


I Am Not Number Seven

by ItchyBaba



Series: BNHA!Umbrella Academy [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Apocalypse (Umbrella Academy), Bisexual Vanya Hargreeves, Death, Forced Sterilization, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, Original Character Death(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Vanya Hargreeves, Pre-Canon, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Self-Indulgent, The Umbrella Academy (TV) Spoilers, Underage Drinking, Vanya Hargreeves Deserves Better, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Vanya Hargreeves-centric, basically im taking the concept of vanya and twisting it to my liking :3, changing a character into an oc/self insert, creative liberties taken with the expansion of the bnha verse, first couple of chapters are before bnha canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:48:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26766784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItchyBaba/pseuds/ItchyBaba
Summary: For the entirety of Vanya's life, she has known what the plan for her existence was: train, graduate from the Umbrella Academy, get into a top hero school, and become a pro-hero worthy of the Umbrella Academy legacy.Now that she has graduated, Vanya tastes freedom for the first time in her life- which leaves her with a dangerous question: does she stay on the route that has been set for her since her adoption, or does she leave all that she knows behind and forges her own path, one that might lead her to the morally grey side of hero society?(Umbrella Academy in the BNHA universe!)
Series: BNHA!Umbrella Academy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1902955
Comments: 11
Kudos: 44





	1. Vanya: Origins

**Author's Note:**

> If u found this and u know me irl, no u don’t ❤️
> 
> this fic is very self-indulgent, the Vanya in this story is half-oc/self-insert and half-canon character
> 
> read the AU Explanation to clarify any questions u might have about this au before u read this

Vanya grit her teeth as a metal hand pressed into the back of her head, shoving her face into the floor of the gymnasium.

“Focus, Number Seven. Use the anger you feel and respond to the problem in front of you!” Vanya’s father yelled from across the room.

The girl grumbled under her breath and focused on the battle android above her, the soundwaves created from the whirs of the gears inside it were imperceivable to the average human's ears. But not to Vanya. She checked her mental counter of power that she had stored up, there was enough to release a good amount of energy. Using her quirk, the girl drew the soundwaves towards her and in a quick moment, expanded them outward, blasting the android off of her body.

Vanya jumped to her feet once she had the freedom to move again, prepared to attack but as she looked up, she saw no need to. The android had slammed against the roof with the force of the girl’s blast and shattered, the pieces raining down onto the padded floor. Her eyes immediately went to her father, awaiting his approval so she could finally be done.

“Adequate work, Number Seven.” he nodded at her panting figure, “But it is hardly a good note to leave the Academy on. You’ll do well to improve in your hero classes if you even get into a school with those unpolished skills.”

The girl resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Yep, that’s dear old Dad, always so caring. But Vanya was familiar with how he expected her to react. She bowed her head and spoke with no emotion, “I’m sorry, Father. I’ll do better to not tarnish the reputation of the Academy.”

His face showed no contentment at the girl’s apology, she wondered if he knew it was bullshit. “Then do better,” he said, ignoring the undertones of their conversation. He reached inside his coat and pulled out a manila folder with a large ‘7’ on the cover, the number Vanya had been assigned at birth, and handed it to her. “Your training is now complete, as of now, you have graduated from the Umbrella Academy. Nevertheless, your work is not done as you must now apply to the top hero schools of your chosen country and excel in your courses.”

Vanya walked over to him and took the folder, raising her eyebrow as she did, “Apply? I thought you were going to get us in on recommendations.” she said, flipping through the contents of the folder, it contained all her documents: birth certificate, adoption papers, transcripts from homeschooling, passport, and her hero study visa along with other documents she’d need after she moved to her chosen country, Japan.

Her father's eye twitched and he pursed his lips before speaking, “Yes. That was the case. Unfortunately, there have been complaints from the public that favoritism has corrupted the hero profession and as a show of good faith,” he said that like he was disgusted by the words, “I have elected to have you and your class apply to hero schools this year.”

The corner of Vanya’s mouth turned down in displeasure, there goes her easy in to a top school. _The one time nepotism was supposed to help me and I get fucked over anyway, just my luck,_ she thought, bitterly. “No wonder you’re having us move so early. I thought I was just extra time to get situated.” she remarked. It was the middle of January now and the seven teenagers of the graduating class were scheduled to leave tomorrow. Entrance exams for hero schools were in February, acceptance letters were sent in March, and started in April so it was suspicious how much time off they were supposed to have. However now, that time spent relaxing will be filled with taking exams and waiting. Shit.

“Language, Number Seven.” Oops.

“I’m sorry, Father.”

He sighed, “Nonetheless, I am equally frustrated with the situation.” His eyes narrowed and he looked menacingly into the distance. It was times like this where Vanya was even more scared of her father, he was not just her trainer but also a pro-hero by the name of Multimind. Her father’s quirk helped many people over the years, the ability to split his consciousness into a sentient clone of himself that shared a hivemind with his other infinite number of clones. He was currently in the top 10 heroes of America, even while running a school intended to raise child soldiers. Although it helped that he could literally be in a hundred places at once. He is revered a true pro-hero by society and he looked the part. Vanya’s father, real name- Reginald Hargreeves, was in his 60s, bald with a salt and pepper beard, posture like a soldier, and always wearing a monocle and a three-piece suit. He looked like how the word ‘strict’ sounded, maybe that's why so many people were scared to stand up to him about the treatment of his adoptive children. And although legally, he was her father and she referred to him by that title, Vanya did not consider him family. He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at Vanya, “You would think that after all I have done for this world, they would respect me a bit more.”

Venom filled her mouth because of all the words Vanya wanted to spit at him, 'you’ve done nothing but hurt us, I’ll never have a normal life because of you, I want to tear down hero society because you have shown me the rot within it'. But the girl swallowed them all and simply nodded, staying silent like the good little soldier she tried to pretend she was.

Of course, Reginald would not see what he has done as wrong, it’s his life’s work. Taking in children that have been orphaned in villain attacks, training them from childhood to fight, then sending them to hero schools to become pros once they’re old enough. It was a wonder that a majority of Vanya’s “classmates”- because that’s what they were at the Academy- classmates, not siblings like she’d grown to see the people around her- have become excellent pro-heroes, not burnt out shells of people that shudder at the thought of their childhood like some of the others have become. When all you knew how to do was fight, there weren’t many safe and legal career choices. The fact that many of her graduated classmates were good heroes kept the American Commission of Heroes from intervening, the children’s suffering can be excused for the greater good of getting more heroes. What a joke.

Vanya’s father tsked and stated, “Now it is your job to show the world that those who come from the Academy are to be reckoned with. Do not disappoint me.” the girl nodded at his command, still not trusting herself to say anything. He continued speaking in his impossibly formal tone, “I have put a list of top hero schools you will apply to in your folder, you may choose to apply to all the schools if you wish but UA is a priority. Get accepted to at least one of those schools or do not come back home. Your plane ticket is in the folder, along with anything else you should need. If something is missing, call my secretary- her number is in there. Pogo will drive you all to the airport tomorrow at 4 o’clock sharp. This is your last night here, I assume you are all packed?”

Vanya’s head did not reel at the large amount of information he dumped on her, it was in his nature to try to overwhelm anyone he was talking to. She was used to it, he did this to her all her life. “Yes, Father. Everything is in boxes and ready to go.” the girl answered.

Her father’s face did not reveal any thoughts, “Good. Your carry-on item for the flight should contain anything you may need to maintain yourself for a single day but it should not be that long. Your belongings will be delivered to your temporary apartment within 12 hours of your arrival. Once you pick a school to attend, you will move into a preselected apartment that is closer to the school.”

The girl hummed in understanding, “You’ve already selected a possible apartment for every school that’s on the list of places I _might_ go?” Vanya asked, holding up the folder. Vanya’s father stared at her for a second before scoffing, “I did not get to where I am now without being throughout.” he sneered. _Fucking smug bastard,_ she thought, he made Vanya’s blood boil.

Reginald turned to face away from the girl, “If there is nothing else you have to say,” he paused, then continued when she did not speak up, “I shall take my leave. I will give you and the rest of your classmates some parting words tomorrow. This is our last conversation alone.” Even at this moment, his voice speaking to his adoptive daughter was sharp and emotionless.

Vanya kept her voice carefully blank, “So it would seem. Goodbye, Father.”

“Goodbye, Number Seven.”

Then, without another word, the figure of him blurred around the edges until he faded into nothingness, the clone disappearing. Once it was gone, the girl’s fists clenched and she spat at the place he was standing at just moments before.

“My name is Vanya, you piece of shit father.”

The hair that had come loose during Vanya’s fight with the battle android fluttered around her from the energy waves she unconsciously released with her agitation. The parts of the android on the ground shuddered and shifted from the waves. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the energy pulses come to a stop. It wasn’t the first time Vanya’s father got under her skin but she hoped it would be the last. The girl opened her eyes and looked at the folder she had clenched in her hand. If Vanya played her cards right, she’d never have to see him once she graduated. The dark-eyed girl could live her life free of the Academy and be a hero, restructuring the current hero society so abusers couldn’t be protected by the system anymore and kicking villain ass so no other orphaned kids would end up as fodder for the Umbrella Academy. Yeah, that was a good goal, Vanya could die happy if she shut this place down for good. The girl made her way across the gym, kicking android parts out of the way. Vanya wanted to find her six siblings to spend as much time as possible with them before they left. She glanced at the clock as she reached the door, 3:37 PM, just a little more than a day before they were all separated.

Vanya stepped out into the hallway of the training center, just a class of about 20 younger Umbrella Academy students passed by, led by another android. They stared at her with wide eyes, it was clear everyone knew she was from the graduating class. The girl waved and a few shyly waved back, making her smile. She remembered when her class was that big, before the weeding out began.

The girl turned and walked down the hallway quickly, as if trying to outrun the memories. She reached the outer doors and exited the facility, taking the steps down to the pathway two at a time. The gym was inside the rec center and around that, there were large open fields, used for quirk and physical training. She walked the path to the manor, looking around at the many classes of students. It was a plethora of action, kids jogging in groups, and every kind of quirk, fire manipulation, telekinesis, and enhanced speed just to name a few, was on display. It was a show of the power that the Academy had. All these child soldiers, just ready to do whatever they were told to do. Vanya put her head down as she walked, biting her lip.

They were just kids, they were all just kids. The students’ entire existence was validated by their quirks and ability to use them. They were told they were nothing outside of their abilities. Her father’s words would always be carved into Vanya’s head and his lessons would always influence her, consciously or not. She had made that realization years ago, but it still hurt. Sometimes she felt like she’d never be free of him. But hopefully, separation would help that.

Vanya reached the familiar steps of the manor, again taking them two at a time. She grabbed her keycard from her back pocket and scanned it. The door beeped and a small light by the scanner flashed green, opening up for her. The pale girl walked through, entering the atrium.

Vanya paused for a second, listening for the familiar sounds of my siblings’ heartbeats with her enhanced hearing. A quick, but strong heartbeat fluttered in the front room next to her, in a higher position from the ground than it usually was. The girl turned and entered the room, pretending to look around the empty space.

“Oh, no one’s here. I could have sworn I heard someone!” she teased playfully. A muffled giggle pittered out from above her. Vanya whirled around in mock surprise to spot her brother floating upside down, hiding just above the door. “Mouse! There you are!”

Klaus let go of his mouth and let out an ugly cackle, “Ugh, I can never sneak up on you! You’re the worst person to prank!” he laughed, turning right side up and floating back down to his feet. Vanya threw her arms over his bony shoulders, pulling him close. Klaus was a skinny white guy, with floppy, curly brown hair, brown eyes, and a face full of freckles, he was a goofy guy and one of her best friends. “Sorry, Klausy-mousey! Can’t help my quirk!” she teased, grinning at him once she pulled away. An odd scent made the girl raise an eyebrow and lean forward, sniffing near his collar, “Are you drunk?”

Klaus rolled his eyes at her question, “Like I wouldn’t be? It’s our last day here, I’m super sad and I’m drinking away my problems.” he said with an exaggerated pout.

Vanya sighed, “You realize we’ve known this would be our last day here for like years?” she said, half laughing.

Her brother shifted on his feet, turning slightly away from her, “You know why I was drinking, Vanya.” he stated shortly.

She frowned, feeling bad at how her teasing affected him. It was no secret among the siblings that Klaus was the least emotionally stable among them. Klaus’ quirk allowed him to see, communicate with, and command the dead, which is how he was able to float, by asking the spirits of the dead to lift him up. It is a very useful and powerful quirk that their father made sure to weaponize. The only downside was that he couldn’t tell who was real and who was alive. Most of the dead remained as they died, so it wasn’t unusual for Klaus to see someone horribly injured begging for help when they realized he could see them. From the way he described it to Vanya, to see that once was enough to shut him down emotionally for a few days. She suspected that the trauma of seeing that was the reason he turned to drinking, the alcohol numbed his mind and made him see the world the way that everyone did, without the everyday blood and gore. His sister worried for the day where drinking wouldn’t be enough for him anymore and he turned to something stronger. The dark-haired girl put her hand on his shoulder, squeezing slightly.

“I know, Klaus, I’m sorry.” Vanya whispered. He shrugged but gave her a small smile, “ ‘s okay. I’m used to being the family fuck-up.” he laughed half-heartedly. She frowned at him, “You know that’s not how I see you. None of us see you like that.”

Klaus didn’t meet her eyes but he bumped shoulders with his sister, it seemed like that was always how they made up- carefully distant but comforting touches. “I know, sis. I’m just extra in my feelings today.” he said, giving her a shaky smile.

Vanya sighed, “It’s a big day, did you already get your orders?”

His smile dropped and he reached inside his school blazer to pull out a folder with a large number ‘4’ on the front, handing it to her. “Yep, France here I come. Aren’t I lucky, _sœur_?” he asked sarcastically.

The dark-haired girl handed Klaus her folder and took his, giving him a look before flipping through it, “You better not have just called me a bitch or something.”

He chuckled and looked through Vanya’s documents, “You always think the worst of me. And relax, I just called you ‘sister’. Shit,” he cursed, looking at the list of schools their father had prepared for her, “Do you have to apply to all of these?”

“No,” the girl answered, pulling out his list, “Father just told me I had to apply to UA- it’s the one near the top, Mouse,” Vanya interrupted herself when she saw his eyes searching the wrong part of the page, “-but I could choose any other ones I wanted to apply to. I just have to make sure I get accepted into one school, at least.”

“Ah, that’s good, that’s good. There aren’t as many good hero schools in France, which doesn’t make sense because shouldn’t there logically be more since France is like twice the size of Japan?” he asked, gesturing to their folders.

“I guess. I don’t know the statistics for French schools as well as I do for Japanese ones.” Vanya shrugged, reading over his list. Klaus was right, there were a lot of French hero schools but not all of them were good. It seemed like France was similar to America in this case, they were more focused on the quantity rather than the quality of heroes, pushing out as many as possible without refining the students’ skills. Despite the number of hero schools on his list, there were probably only three or four viable schools.

The pale girl looked at her brother, “You know what this means, right?” Klaus looked uncomfortable but nodded.

“I need to hear you say it, Klaus. So I know that you know.” she told him seriously.

His hand gripped his other arm, a sign of his discomfort, “I don’t have many chances,” he said, repeating words their father had told him, “and if I mess up, I can’t come back to the Academy for help. But,” his eyes met his sister’s and he began repeating words that she had told him, “if I can’t make it there, I know that I can come to you, you’ll help me when Dad won’t.” He blinked rapidly as he finished speaking.

Vanya gripped the hand that was digging into his arm, “You’re my brother, Klaus. I’ll always protect you, no matter what.” Her words were firm, but not mean. Klaus knocked his forehead against hers lightly and smiled softly, “I know, sis.”

They let go of each other and traded folders, slightly awkward now. It was odd, expressing emotions after undergoing training to suppress them. But, they still tried their best to let each other know that they mattered, sometimes that was all the comfort they needed to make it through a hard day.

The dark-eyed girl nudged him with her elbow, “C’mon. Let’s go find our fellow graduates, we have to spend as much time together as we can before we leave tomorrow.”

Her brother rolled his eyes, “Ugh, such a buzzkill!” But he still threw an arm around Vanya to pull her into one of those side bro hugs. “Fine, let’s go find the rest of those losers.” he said with mock fatigue, leading his sister out of the room to the atrium.


	2. Vanya: Rising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween!!!

When Klaus and Vanya got to the atrium, she paused and listened. There were a lot of heartbeats in the manor, as it was where a lot of Umbrella Academy kids were roomed but she was looking for a few in particular. A few familiar heartbeats were picked up by her keen senses, the closest ones were a jumpy and a steady beat.

The girl turned to Klaus, “Ben’s in the living room, Five’s in his room, Diego's in the kitchen, and I think Luther and Allison are still training, they aren’t in the house.” Klaus grimaced, “I hope all they’re doing is training. No offense to our dear brother and sister but they are too close for comfort…”

Vanya shuddered, he wasn't wrong but it wasn’t something she wanted to dwell on. Hopefully, the separation would get rid of any unfamilial feelings they had for each other. “Let’s just go to Ben.” the girl said quickly.

“Agreed!” he practically shouted and began dragging her to the living room, just across the way from the front room. Klaus pushed open the door with a flourish, “Oh, Benny-boy~” he sang.

A dark head popped up from the alcove seat by the large, stained glass window, “Shit! Jesus Christ, could you scare me anymore?” he exclaimed, then sighed. As much as Ben pretended to be tired of them, he was used to it. Ben was Korean with fluffy, black hair, brown eyes and flawless, olive-toned skin that turned red at his cheeks because of his embarrassment at being scared. “Did you guys get your orders too?” he asked, holding up a manila folder in his hand with a large number ‘6’ on it.

Klaus and Vanya held their folders up, wordlessly. Ben held both hands out, one expectant and the other offering his folder to the pair. Klaus and Vanya gave Ben their folders and took his, hunching together to look at the documents, while Ben set both of their folders open-faced on the long seat he was on in front of him. Vanya scanned the list of hero schools Ben was given and whistled, “Damn, there are some good ones here. You’re lucky you’re going to South Africa, do you know what you're applying to yet?”

Her brother shook his head, “Dad just told me I need to apply to Cape Town Hero Academy but other than that, no” he explained, sounding a bit stressed. Ben looked down at their lists, reading quickly, “Klaus, are you gonna apply to  Jeanne d'Arc Academy? I heard that one was good.”

Klaus looked up from Ben’s folder, “Uh, yeah, I guess so. Dad said I had to but I don’t know where else I should apply to.” 

Ben hummed then pulled out a pen from his school blazer, making markings on his brother’s list, “I heard these were good, they’re just suggestions though.” he muttered the last part. The curly-haired brother smiled at Ben and gave him a thumbs-up, “Thanks, man!”

Ben mumbled a quiet, “No problem.” and looked at his sister’s list, “What about you, Vanya? Have you decided?” 

“Yep, I’m gonna try for UA, Shiketsu High School, and Ketsubutsu Academy.” the long-haired girl nodded at him. Beside her, Klaus rolled his eyes, “Of course you would already have decided where you’re gonna apply. Miss Overpowered Vanya can afford to be picky since she’s definitely gonna pass whatever test she takes.” Ben laughed at their brother’s sarcasm while the girl in question flicked his ear.

_ Well, it wasn’t like he was wrong _ , Vanya thought,  _ I am pretty damn strong _ . Her father made sure to train her until she was for sure able to crush any entrance exam that was thrown her way and, not to mention the fact that Vanya’s skills, both the quirk and physical kind, were of high quality. It wouldn’t be incorrect to say that the girl was more like a living weapon, focused, powerful, and dangerous, than a person. 

The sixth sense-having brother yelped from the force of her flick and held onto his ear, leaving only Vanya to hold the folder. “Ow! Damn, Vanny, that fucking hurt!”

“Don’t be annoying then.”

The air crackled for a millisecond, then a familiar  _ pop!  _ burst out from behind the trio, “Is Klaus being annoying again?” Five asked as he strolled up beside them, a folder with the number ‘5’ on it in hand.

“Shut up, Five, the grown-ups are talking.” Klaus snapped. The sister sighed, those two brothers rarely go along with each other. “Here, Ben.” she tossed him his folder back. He closed his siblings’ folders and handed them back to the pair. Meanwhile, Five had bristled at Klaus’ dig at his height, as he was a bit shorter than the rest of the siblings. Not anything crazy, but it was noticeable and for a perfectionist like Five, it was enough for him to become sensitive about it. Other than his shorter than average height, Five had green eyes, pale skin, dark hair in a perfectly combed style, and a permanently smug look on his face. He was a bit of a no-nonsense guy, which was why he never chose a name- only going by his assigned number. He was really similar to their adoptive father, which is why he and the siblings never got along that well, but he was still a good kid for the most part. 

Five noticed the trio trading folders, “So you guys got your orders already? Damn, I thought I was the first one.” he tutted. Next to her, Vanya saw Klaus puff up to let out another jab at Five out of her peripheral vision. The girl turned slightly to glare at him and he quickly clammed up. 

“Do you know where you’re applying, Five?” Ben asked, goodnaturedly. That’s Ben, the peacekeeper. He was book smart and socially smart, something that a lot of the kids at the Academy lacked. However, his reservations and hesitation to get involved held him back from excelling in training. Despite that, it felt like he was the only one with any brain cells around the place sometimes.

Five dragged himself to sit on the alcove seating beside Ben and plopped down with a huff, “Yeah, I have a couple of places I’m thinking of but Dad said I  _ most definitely needed, _ ” Five copied the formal inflection of their father’s voice when he said that, “to apply to London Hero Preparatory, like that wasn’t obvious. I mean, it’s the best hero school in the UK, so duh.” he grumbled.

“I’ve heard good things about that school,” Vanya supplied helpfully. Five leaned back against the window and raised an eyebrow at her, “It’s in Europe, how good could it be?”

The group all burst out laughing, “He’s got a point, Vanny. Europe isn’t doing much better than America in terms of producing heroes.” Ben chuckled. Klaus walked over to the wall by where the other boys were sitting and plopped down before groaning, “Man, I hate it here. I can practically see society crumbling more and more every day.”

The girl took a seat on the floor, not wanting to be the only one standing, in front of them as Five spoke up, “Did you forget? That’s what we’re here for, the Umbrella Academy literally exists to churn out quality heroes for the world to throw everything they can at.”

Vanya gave him a disapproving look, “That’s harsh. We’re commiserating, not looking for the cold, hard truth.” Five didn’t look impressed with his sister’s statement and opened his mouth to retort but before he could, the living room door opened, revealing Allison and Luther, laughing and playfully shoving each other.

They stopped suddenly when they saw that there were others in here, “Well! If it isn’t Luke and Leia!” Klaus snickered, “What were you two crazy kids up to?”

Allison and Luther glanced at each other for a second then held up their folders, the other sister had a ‘3’ on it while this brother’s had a ‘1’. “We just finished up our last lessons- uh, separately,” Luther added the last part quickly, “And got our orders from Dad.” Allison looked around, “Where’s Diego?” she asked, turning to Vanya. The pale girl paused for a moment before answering, sometimes Allison’s beauty was shocking, even after spending her whole life with her. It was theorized that her looks were likely an effect of her quirk, the ability to make people do whatever she wanted as long as she preceded the command with ‘I heard a rumor that…’. The siblings poked fun that her beauty made people want to agree with her and called her a siren for it, Allison thinks the jokes are funny for the most part but is scared to acknowledge that she could get people to do some pretty messed up things if she willed it. Allison is Black, with curly, brown hair, flawless skin, and brown eyes of the same shade. Vanya jerked her head to the wall that separated them from the room next door, “He’s in the kitchen with Grace, sounds like they’re baking.”

Luther sneered, an ugly look on his normally stern face. He was the tallest out of the siblings, with cropped, blond hair and blue eyes. “Mama’s boy.” he laughed under his breath. Klaus gave him a look, “You act like you aren’t starved for maternal affection either, muscle-man.” he quipped as he jabbed a finger in his brother’s direction, referring to Luther’s build from his enhanced strength quirk. Vanya laughed, “I think we’re  _ all  _ starved for maternal affection, Mouse.”

After all, the only mother they’ve ever known was an android named Grace, the perfect blonde pin-up of a 50s housewife that was designed by their father. She was nicer than anything and the seven siblings all latched onto her because she was the only source of comfort from an adult that they have ever known. Diego got made fun of a lot because he showed his love for her the most but they all held some sort of affection for her. The siblings called her “Mom” but in reality, Vanya didn’t really know what to feel for her and because of that, she usually just called Grace by her name. Vanya loved Grace as much as she disliked her. On one hand, the android didn’t know any better and was doing just what her programming told her to do- love and care for the seven teenagers- but on the other hand, she never stepped in or stopped Father from working them to the brink of exhaustion. Technically, it wouldn’t be impossible for Grace to defy her creator, she was an AI that learned as she went. And that made Vanya wonder: was Grace choosing not to interfere or was she just not able to? It was difficult to understand the girl’s feelings when she didn’t even know what Grace’s capabilities were. 

Allison’s lip twitched but her sister couldn’t tell if it was in annoyance or laughter, “Can someone go grab him? We should all talk.” she requested. Five groaned, dropping his head against his shoulder, “I got it, you all are too slow anyway.” then stood up and took a half-step before disappearing into thin air with a small  _ pop!  _ in a flash of blue light. Damn, sometimes Vanya was envious of his teleportation quirk, it seemed so convenient to get around.

Ben looked from the place where Five disappeared to Allison and Luther and asked where they were applying, which they answered excitedly. While they made conversation, Vanya tuned out and listened absentmindedly to Diego and Five’s conversation. From the kitchen, she could hear them arguing already, and honestly, she was a bit impressed, it was almost funny how quickly they could get on each other’s nerves. Those two were another pair of siblings that she hoped would get a better relationship once they had some time apart.

The crackle of air brought her back to the present and stopped the siblings’ conversation. Five appeared in a flash, holding Diego by the ear, despite his loud and vulgar protests. “G-get the f-f-fuck off of me, Five!” he spat. 

The dark-haired girl sighed and stood up, inserting myself in between them, “Enough. Five, when Allison said go get him, I think she meant to ask him to come over here.” she mediated but Five just stuck his tongue out at her and went to sit in his spot again. Vanya sucked her teeth and led Diego by the arm to the other side of the circle, away from him. Diego was still rubbing at his ear, looking upset. He had a bit of flour in his short, black hair and on his hands, proof that he had been baking. The girl felt a bit bad for him, it was obvious he wanted to spend some time with Grace before they left tomorrow. Diego was Hispanic, with tan skin, brown eyes, and always with fresh wounds like right now, he had a bandage on his neck and left eyebrow. His quirk, trajectory manipulation, was only able to work on objects in motion so their father had him train with throwing knives, these often caused injuries as Reginald was a stressful presence so Diego oftentimes couldn’t focus during critical moments of his training.

Klaus looked up from where he had been tracing patterns on the wood floor with his finger, “Did you get your orders, Diego?” he asked, genuinely interested.

The injured brother grimaced, dusting the flour off his hands on his black hoodie and reaching inside the pocket, pulling out a manila folder with a large ‘2’ on it, “Got ‘em this morning. I was talking to Mom about what schools I should apply to before I was so rudely interrupted.” he glared at Five as he said that, who threw his hands up in exasperation. 

Allison cleared her throat, “Well,” she started, “Now that everyone’s here, how are you guys doing?” Diego’s jaw dropped open, “Seriously? You dragged me over here to talk about my  _ feelings _ ?”

Luther stepped forward, fists clenched, “Hey! She’s trying to be nice, you dick.” Diego didn’t take nicely to the insult, advancing on Luther and causing Luther to advance on him. Vanya’s head began to hurt because of the irritation she felt at the display in front of me.

“Stop!” she yelled, a burst of energy resounding out from her body, strong enough to make everyone standing stumble a few steps. Klaus hopped up from his spot on the floor and rushed to his sister, placing a hand on her shoulder but it wasn’t enough to calm her. “Shit, guys! We have less than a day together and even then you can’t get off each other’s back! Can we for once put aside our differences and just enjoy the time we have left, I mean, we realistically won’t all be together again for like three years!” the girl huffed, agitated but feeling better after she yelled. Vanya quickly checked her mental counter, the blast she released had only cost her a few points- she could gain those back easily enough.

The silence brought Vanya back to the present, she had expected someone to shout that she was stupid immediately after she finished her rant. Instead, all the siblings were glancing at each other. “T-the hell you talking about, Vanya?” Diego stuttered, confused, “We can see everyone during summer? Most of our summers match up.”

“That’s not the case, moron,” Five corrected in his typical caring manner, “We’re gonna be on hero study visas which means, unless there’s a serious reason, we need to stay in our designated countries while we’re studying in order to ‘learn about our communities’ and ‘build trust with local heroes’.” he did air quotes as he spoke.

A stunned silence permeated the room, interrupted by Ben letting his head fall against the window with a  _ thunk,  _ “This sucks.” A couple of the siblings laughed, “You said it, Bentacles” Klaus said from beside the girl, referencing Ben’s quirk with that nickname. His quirk was the ability to bring eldritch, tentacled monsters from an alternate universe to this universe through his skin. It was scary in theory but he was a real powerhouse in battle. Plus, some of the monsters were nice and would grab stuff off the top shelf that couldn’t be reached if asked politely.

Diego leaned against a plush armchair and cursed, “Damn it. I didn’t think...” he trailed off. Vanya nodded sadly, “This is the last time we’ll all be together, Pogo’s supposed to take us to the airport tomorrow at 4.” 

Allison’s jaw clenched, “That’s why- I was wondering… can we spend time together?” she hesitantly asked, her arm coming up to rub the back of her neck, “I just- I mean, this is the first time we’re gonna be apart. I’m kinda getting separation anxiety, haha…” she laughed awkwardly.

From the looks on the siblings’ faces, they were thinking the same thing: they were all scared too. They had grown up with each other, side by side, and they were never apart from each other for more than a week when their father would have them do extended stamina training for days on end. As much as they didn’t like to admit it, because emotion was a weakness here at the Academy, all seven of them loved each other and they were nervous to be away from all they knew. 

Ben stood and walked over to where Allison stood, placing a hand on her shoulder, “I’d like that, sis.” he said with a smile. Like a domino effect, all of the siblings moved, one by one, over to Allison, wrapping her up in a big hug. “It’ll be okay, Ally.” Vanya heard someone whisper but she couldn’t tell which of the boys said it, either way, it seemed to comfort her and she wrapped as many of them as she could reach up in her arms. The siblings separated slightly but still kept close enough to stay in the big group hug, “What should we do?” Vanya asked, looking at all her siblings. 

Klaus shrugged as best as he could with his arms wrapped around everyone, “Movie night? Sleepover in the common room like we used to when we were kids?” he suggested hopefully. Luther chuckled, “I like that idea. Diego, would you bring what you were baking for snacks?” The brother covered in flour pretended to think for a second, “Hmm, I suppose I can share some of my special chocolate chip cookies  _ if  _ Five sneaks some of Dad’s fancy liquor.” he cackled manically after he said that.

Five smirked, “You really think I would betray Dad’s trust and steal his personal property? Because you’re right! I would!” Klaus snickered, “I’m already way ahead of you guys.” he boasted, holding up a flask that must have been hidden in his official Umbrella Academy™ blazer. Ben laughed, “Okay so Klaus is banned from drinking anymore but the rest of us should still get to vibe.” he laughed, causing Klaus to pout.

The pale girl let go of the group and stood back, “So it's decided? Five breaks into Dad’s cellar, Diego grabs snacks, and the rest of us grab all the pillows and blankets we can find and meet in the common room in 10 minutes?” Vanya strategized. Everyone let go of each other, standing back in a circle, and Allison gave them all a dazzling smile, “Sounds good, don’t forget to change into your pajamas, too. And, thanks, guys.” Vanya grinned back at her, the sisters tended to butt heads a lot but they were family, they loved each other. Luther put his hand in the middle of the circle, “Class of 20XX on three?” he asked hesitantly, obviously afraid of rejection. All seven of the siblings exchanged glances, causing Luther to sweat a bit but one by one the siblings put their hands on top of each other. 

The tallest brother grinned and counted, “One, two-”

“Wait!” Klaus shouted, making them jump. “What?” Allison questioned, visibly surprised. The curly-haired brother stuttered, “Uh well, are we doing ‘one, two, three, Class of 20XX’ or ‘one, two, Class of 20XX’?” he wondered, tilting his head to the side. The shortest brother didn’t look impressed, “The second one, idiot.” Five answered sharply. Klaus ignored the smartass answer and just nodded happily, “Okay, I got it now! Luther, take it away!”

The blond rolled his eyes but continued, “Anyways, one, two-”

“Class of 20XX!” they all shouted, lifting their hands up with the cheer. The group grinned at each other as Allison clapped her hands together, “Alright, meet up in 10. Let’s go!” They stepped out of the circle and left the living room to go their separate ways, determined to have a good last day together.


	3. Vanya: Exposed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope everyone's having a good All Souls Day!

Vanya said a quick goodbye to her sibling as she and Allison headed to their side of the manor, girls were in the west wing and boys were in the east wing. Reginald didn’t care for “fraternizing,” as he put it, and separated the students by gender. On the bright side, Academy members that didn’t identify with the gender they were born as could switch whenever they wanted to the side that felt most comfortable to them. Vanya’s father was a bastard but he didn’t care about things like gender that had no impact on the student’s physical and quirk training, so… perks? The girl was a bit confused about the situation, Reginald had control of the student’s entire lives yet was indifferent about their personal identities. He chose the oddest things to care about. 

She and Allison reached the elevator, both of them reaching for the ‘up’ button at the same time, stopping when they saw the other. “Oh, sorry,” Allison stammered, flustered.

Vanya pressed the button while her sister was apologizing, “It’s ok.” she replied, plainly. They waited in silence for a few, tense moments for the elevator before the curly-haired sister spoke again, “Vanya, I-”

_ Ding! _

The elevator opened, a group of girls from the class below them spilling out. They were laughing but quickly stopped when they saw the pair. Vanya recognized the girl in front of the group because of the wire protruding from her head, a result of her lie-detector quirk. “Vanya, Allison!” she exclaimed, “Congrats, guys! You’re officially graduates now, right?”

The dark-haired girl shook her head in agreement while Allison responded, “Yep, we’re done.” with a smile. The lightbulb at the end of the wire on the younger girl’s head turned green, a sign that what the curly-haired girl said was true. Vanya absentmindedly wondered if her quirk made friendships harder or easier. The ability to lie was neither good nor bad, it depended on how it was used, but to remove it completely from a relationship between two friends was a concept she was not sure she could handle. The younger girl sighed, “You’re so lucky, I can’t wait until my class graduates.” The girls behind her murmured in agreement. Vanya gave her a sympathetic smile and patted the side of her upper arm, “Hang in there, it’s only one more year.”

The younger girl shrugged, ignoring the green light flashing on the wire at the older student’s statement, “Guess so.” Then glanced at the clock above the elevator, eyes widened before returning to the sisters, “We better go, we have evening practice. Congrats again, we'll be cheering you on from here!” she said with a fist pump. Allison and Vanya thanked her before saying goodbye to the girls and watching them run down the hallway to the atrium. The pair ducked into the elevator but this time, Allison didn’t make a move for the elevator buttons and just watched as her sister pressed the button for the seventh floor. They stood in silence as the doors closed and the elevator began to move. 

“So…” Vanya began awkwardly, “What were you going to say before?”

“Oh, um,” Allison sputtered, “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

The dark-haired sister turned and gave her a look, which Allison carefully avoided by turning the other way. Vanya scoffed and hit the emergency stop button, jerking the elevator to a stop. Allison stumbled, catching herself on the wall, “What the hell, Vanya?!” she gasped, facing the pale girl.

Vanya turned to her, “You’re not doing this, not today.” she said sharply, making a cutting motion with her hand. The brown-eyed girl looked surprised but quickly hid it with a neutral face, “I just don’t want to fight when we don’t have much time left.” she sighed. Vanya leaned against the elevator wall, “Okay, then. I promise I won’t get mad.” she said easily. The other sister bit her lip in thought, “You say that but you don’t even know what I’m gonna say.”

The dark-eyed girl groaned and dropped her head against her shoulder, “Allison, seriously. I promise I won’t get mad.” she vowed, crossing her arms. The brown-skinned girl took a deep breath, “Fine, I was just wondering… do you think we’ll still love each other anymore after we’re separated?”

Vanya uncrossed her arms and stared at her sister, “What are you talking about?” she questioned. One of Allison’s hands came up to play with her hair, a nervous habit, “What if the only reason we all love each other is because we were all we had? What happens when we have space to grow as individuals? Obviously, we’ll stay close in the beginning but I’m scared about later on. Are we slowly gonna stop talking, are we gonna forget about each other with our new lives?” she pointedly looked away as she confessed this to her sister. 

The dark-haired girl’s eyes widened and she reached forward to grab her sister’s hands in hers, “Look at me, Allison.” she ordered. The sister in question flinched and slowly met Vanya’s gaze.

The dark-eyed girl took a deep breath, “You’re my sister, never forget that. Yeah, things are gonna change and we’re not gonna be as close as before but I’ll be damned if I stop loving you guys, you’re my family.” she gripped the other girl’s hands a little tighter but not enough to be uncomfortable, “I’ll never forget you, you’re too important to me. We’re just gonna have a new normal for a while then we can see each other whenever we want, I mean, if you want.” It was a hard realization to have but Vanya knew it was a realistic possibility that some of her siblings would not want to see her again, especially if she reminded them of a hard time in their life.

Allison’s eyes shone with tears and she pulled the other girl into a hug, stuffing Vanya’s face in her hair, “Of course I’d want to see you again!” she cried, “I’m just scared you won’t want to see me again.”

The dark-haired girl wrapped her arms around her sister and tried to spit out a brown curl that had made its way into her mouth as quietly as she could before talking, “You and everyone else are important to me, you guys aren’t just my classmates. You’re my siblings and I need you guys.”

Vanya heard her sister sniffle and Allison pulled away from her slowly, “Really? You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?” She asked pathetically, her eyes teary. The girl pressed my lips together, “When have you ever known me to lie?” she chuckled. The other girl managed to croak out a laugh, “Yeah, that’s true. You’re kind of bluntly honest.”

The pale girl winced, it wasn’t that she tried to be rude on purpose, but when you grow up interacting with only a certain group of people- you don’t exactly get the best practice when it comes to social situations. As a result, she was kind of an ass when it came to emotions. Vanya knew how to make her siblings feel better but she doubted she would be as knowledgeable as she was about them with other people. How do you connect with people if you don’t know them or what they have been through? The girl had a really bad feeling that she was going to be awful at making friends in her new school. Vanya tried telling herself that was okay though, she’s been around people all her life so some time by herself would be good for her. But in reality, the girl knew she was terrified of being alone for the first time in her life.

The dark-eyed girl gave Allison a carefree smile as if she hadn’t just been having a private moment to freak out for a second, “Yep, that’s me!” but she sighed before continuing, “Look, Ally, things are gonna change but it doesn’t have to be scary. Father said he was gonna give us phones to keep in touch and there’s a bunch of stuff out there we can use to talk, we won’t grow apart like you think we will.” Although the siblings had access to the internet and computers and stuff like that, they had only ever had it in a controlled environment. Like when they were in the computer lab, practicing how to write reports or researching fight strategies online so it's not to say that any of them were completely unaware of things like cybersecurity and how to use a computer but they weren't exactly experienced with things like social media. The second Vanya got her phone, she’d make an account on something. She hasn't decided what yet, but she promised herself was going to be caught up with social media trends by the time she went to school so she didn’t look like a complete shut-in.

Allison sniffled and squeezed her sister’s hand before letting go of her, once again putting distance between them. “Thanks, Van.” she smiled. Vanya was momentarily blinded by the shine of her smile but quickly spoke, “Anytime, sis.” with a grin. The dark-haired girl reached over to the elevator control panel and typed in the override code, the elevator shuddered before continuing to the seventh floor. She glanced at Allison, “So… we're good, right? Do you feel better?” she asked, feeling a bit embarrassed. Ugh, emotions.

Her sister nodded, “I do, thanks for talking things out with me. Make sure you keep me updated when you’re in Japan.” she bumped Vanya in the side with her elbow as she spoke. The girl copied the move, jokingly saying, “As long as you do the same when you’re in Australia.”

Allison playfully deflated like she was sad, “I will if I manage to survive the heat. I heard the summers there are killer, I might miss the Academy.” she looked at the other girl and they dissolved into giggles at the absurd notion. 

The elevator let out a  _ ding!  _ and the doors opened up, allowing them to step out. They walked down the hall to their bedrooms but stopped when they reached the doors, each one had a small placard with their assigned numbers on it that they had taped over and written their chosen names over it. It hit both the sisters at that moment that this would be one of the last times they’d see their rooms, a bittersweet realization. The girls gave each other half-smiles and entered their own respective rooms, each thinking themselves about how it was nice to not need to speak to give each other reassurance.

Looking at her bare room, with all of her belongings packed in the corner, a weird feeling washed over Vanya. She wasn’t sad but she would miss the room that she had spent her whole life in, it was her safe space from the harsh reality of the Academy and where she retreated in the moments she wanted to be completely alone. To be honest, none of the siblings had ever been in each other’s rooms, it was sort of an unspoken rule that their rooms were only for them. That’s why they always hung out in common places, like the living room or the library. 

Vanya’s room was small, just enough space for a bed, a tiny wardrobe, and a desk. She didn’t have many clothes, everything the girl owned was either snuck in by one of her father’s employees that she managed to pay off with money that Five stole or provided by the Academy like sweatpants, sweatshirts, t-shirts, shorts, pajamas, and, of course, the school uniform that they wore during their non-physical or quirk classes. Vanya didn’t have many personal items either, she just had her violin, sheet music, music stand, posters she had printed out on the computer lab printers, and a small assortment of books she managed to smuggle out of the library and sneak into her boxes of things to be sent to her apartment in Japan. 

Piled in the corner, were the large boxes that contained Vanya’s entire life. There were four in total, a meager amount of things to own when she thought about how many things people her age usually owned. Vanya was told that when she got to Japan, she needed to buy hygiene products and food, anything that couldn’t be shipped over or taken on an airplane, with a credit card attached to Reginald’s bank account that would be given to her, along with a phone, just before she left. Vanya also planned to buy some nonessentials to spoil herself, her father was a billionaire, a few hundred dollars spent on clothes, decorations, and maybe some skincare would not be missed.

The girl walked over to her bed, where her sheets and blankets had been stripped and placed, folded neatly, on top of my pillow. Vanya grabbed the whole stack and pulled a pair of pajamas out of the top box, changing into them quickly, then headed to the door, pausing for a second to look back over her shoulder. Without the stack of bedding, it looked even emptier. Vanya wondered how bare it would look when she took the boxes out tomorrow when she left as she headed out of the door. Allison exited her room at the same time the other girl did, carrying her stack of bedding and wearing a pair of pajamas like Vanya's, a plain white t-shirt with the Academy logo on it and cloth, black shorts. Unlike Vanya, she had a thoughtful look on her face. It seemed they had similar trains of thoughts about their rooms but she quickly grinned when their eyes met.

“Long time no see.” the dark-haired girl joked, causing her sister to exhale quickly in exasperation. “C’mon, everyone’s waiting and Five’s gonna have a cow if we’re late.” Allison tugged at her arm, pulling her down the hallway. Vanya allowed her sister to pull her until they reached the elevator and Allison hit the button to go down. This time, no one was in the elevator and they entered, the pale girl turned and hit the button for the ground floor. The doors closed and they both leaned back against the wall, enjoying the quiet. The ride down seemed to go faster than the ride up, especially without the emergency stop. They reached the ground floor and exited the elevator, turning the corner to walk down the carpeted hallway to the common room.

Vanya opened the heavy wooden door to see the common room set up for their sleepover: three of the couches that usually lined the walls had been recentered in front of the TV and around the coffee table, sheets had been placed over said leather couches, and bottles of expensive-looking liquor and a plate of cookies were placed on the coffee table. As for the siblings, everyone was spaced around the room, all of them had changed into their pajamas that matched with the sisters. Klaus and Ben were in the small kitchenette in the corner, digging through the fridge, Diego was sitting on the counter, chatting with them, Luther was fiddling with the wires behind the TV while Five was typing something into a laptop Vanya assumed he had taken without permission from the computer lab, sitting on the couch with his legs folded. 

Diego glanced up at the girls from across the room, “Finally! Jesus, did you guys get lost or something?” he laughed as he grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter. Vanya split off from Allison, sensing her walk to Luther and Five behind her back while she grinned at her brothers that had popped their heads out of the refrigerator like prairie dogs, “Looks like I didn’t miss much, though. What’re Luther and Five doing?” she questioned, gesturing to the boys Allison was walking to behind her. 

“Attempting to connect Five’s laptop to the TV so we can watch movies, although they’ve mostly been yelling at each other. Pickle?” Klaus offered, holding up a jar from the fridge. The girl shook her head and looked at the snacks that Klaus and Ben picked out, a meager selection of sleepover food from what she understood from the movies. Usually, people would have copious amounts of junk food but this being the Umbrella Academy, they practically never ate junk food, unless an employee managed to sneak it in. So, the brothers had the ingredients for sandwiches in their arms. Ben sensed Vanya’s judging stare and defended himself, “It can be fun! We can make, like, mini sandwiches or lettuce wraps or something.”

The girl held her hands up in surrender, “Hey, I didn’t say anything. And anyway, that should go good with shots.” she smirked. Klaus shifted the ingredients in his arms to one side and fist-pumped with his free hand, “Hell yeah! That’s the spirit, Vanya!”

“Fucking finally!” the dark-eyed girl heard Five shout from behind her, she turned to see him grinning wildly at the TV, which now mirrored the screen of his laptop, and faced her and the boys in the kitchen, “I got the thing to work!”

Luther unwound himself from behind the TV, “Some credit would be nice…” he grumbled as Allison sympathetically patted his arm, both of them moving to sit on the couch facing the TV. Five rolled his eyes and Vanya gestured for her brothers to follow her to the other side of the room. Five spun around on the couch as the group of four joined them, “So, what are you guys in the mood for? Comedy, period drama, horror?” he asked, getting progressively more excited with each suggestion. 

Vanya took her seat on the couch in front of him, her brothers filling in the seats beside her, Klaus and Ben set the food on the coffee table first. “What about the new All Might documentary?” Diego piped up, setting his feet on the table. Allison glanced over at her sister and saw her grimace, “You good with that, Vanya? You’re about to see a lot of him so you may not want to start early.” she explained. The pale girl shook her head, “It’s not that. I just don’t wanna think about hero stuff right now, can we watch something mind-numbing?” 

Five rapidly typed something into his laptop, “I got the perfect thing.” he declared with an exaggerated click to the mousepad. We all looked at the screen to see what he picked, a familiar pre-quirk society movie studio logo filled the screen. 

Luther sat up suddenly, “Dude, is this what I think it is?” he asked excitedly. Five shushed him harshly, “You’ll ruin it!”

Another logo popped up before the title of the movie emerged from the darkness in a spooky green font: “Scooby-Doo: The Movie” which was received with cheers from all of the siblings.

“Yes! I love this movie!” Ben gushed, the siblings all looked at him, “Bro, we all do.” Klaus commented, leaning back into the couch. The shy brother pouted, “Well, I was just saying.”

Vanya sat up, “Wait a sec. Five, pause it.” she said with urgency. Five quickly pressed pause, freezing the opening credits. “What, what is it?” Luther panicked, glancing around the room like something was about to jump out. Which wouldn't be unusual, as their father frequently sent in androids while they were relaxing to check the seven’s reaction times when they were least expecting it, like in their sleep, during meal times, or their limited free time.

Vanya made a ‘calm down’ gesture with her hands, “It’s nothing bad,” she placated, “I just had an idea.”

“Uh-oh,” Five said apprehensively. The girl turned and glared at him, “Shut up, it’s a good idea.” she ignored the scoff she heard from Diego and continued, “Anyways! I have an idea, what if… every time the characters say one of their catchphrases, we take a shot?” she suggested, wiggling her eyebrows. Klaus shot up with a speed Vanya didn’t even think was possible for a guy that moves languidly like him, “Yes! That's a great idea!”

Luther on the other hand exhaled heavily, “That’s a dangerous game, we all know how much they say that in the first 10 minutes, let alone in the whole movie.” he cautioned, yet he reached for one of the bottles, “I’m in.”

The girl grinned and looked around at the rest of her siblings, “What does everyone else think?” They all exchanged looks at my question then shrugged and reached to grab glasses from the table. “Fuck it, when else are we gonna get this chance?” Ben laughed.

Allison swirled the brown liquor in her glass around, evidently already having poured herself a glass, “We leave at four so there should be plenty of time to nurse a hangover.”

Five scoffed and poured his own glass, “Like you’d have to convince me and the idiots over there to play a drinking game.” he said nodding to Klaus and Diego. “Hey!” Diego shouted indignantly but Klaus just shrugged, “He’s right, though.”

Vanya smiled widely and poured her own glass, “Alright, let’s start this excellent idea off with a toast then.” Everyone else quickly filled their glasses and raised them, waiting for the leader to speak. She thought for a second, thinking of the words to say. Nothing could ever be said that could replicate what she felt about her siblings but she decided to go for simplicity, “To us. To our family, may we always stay together. Even if it’s not physical.” the girl said softly. The siblings smiled sadly at each other, some bumping shoulders. 

“To us.” they cheered together, in one voice. They took their shots quickly, shivering slightly at the taste. Vanya set her drink down, “Alright, alright. No more sad stuff, we’re gonna enjoy our last night together.” she stated, playfully stern.

“Yes!” Klaus rejoiced, throwing his arms around the people beside him, Vanya and Diego, “Let’s get on with the game!” The siblings all cheered at the suggestion, settling in to get more comfortable on the sheet-covered couches. Vanya grabbed the blanket that she had set on the coffee table and spread it over her brothers and herself, relaxing and feeling more comfortable than she had in a while as Five pressed play on the movie.


	4. Vanya: Broken

A dull ringing sound slowly brought Vanya back to consciousness. She clenched her eyes tighter, listening in with her quirk. The ringing wasn’t coming from any outside source, which means it must be coming from a headache. Her tongue piercing clicked uncomfortably in her dry mouth, irritating her as she opened her eyes slowly, doing her morning routine of checking her mental counter while she surveyed the view in front of her, which in this case was her siblings passed out in various positions on the couches. Her counter wasn’t too filled, at 76 points out of 100, she could lower it later during training. The girl paused her scan of the room, memories rushing back to her.

Vanya wouldn’t have training today. She was leaving America on a plane tonight.  _ Fuck. _ she thought, bringing a hand up to rub at her eyes. She had nearly forgotten that it was moving day with the hangover clouding her mind. The girl sat up from her position of leaning against Klaus’ shoulder, her neck stiff from leaning all night, and took a closer look at the scene around her. 

The TV was set on a low volume, playing some movie Vanya didn’t recognize that must have come on because of the autoplay on Five’s laptop. On one couch, Allison and Luther were sitting upright and leaning against each other, passed out. On the other, Five had staked his claim on the space by laying down across the whole couch, empty glass still in hand and snoring obnoxiously loud. The couch Vanya had been sleeping on was filled by herself, Klaus, Diego, and Ben, in that order, who were all sitting upright with their heads either leaning back against the pillow or on the person next to them’s shoulder. The girl carefully climbed out of the divot she had made for herself on the couch, mindful of Klaus’ limbs and any noise she made until she was free. The dark-haired girl stood next to the couch and stretched, enjoying the popping of her joints, before moving as quietly as she could to the kitchenette.

Vanya opened the fridge, looking at what little food was in there. It wasn’t much, just some stuff from the basic food groups, but there was enough for breakfast. She grabbed eggs, bacon, butter, and bread from the fridge and glanced at the clock on the stove as she quietly set the ingredients down. It was 1:37 PM, a few hours before they left, but still enough time to have breakfast. 

Vanya rolled her head to the side and cracked her knuckles, preparing to make a feast and feeling nervous. It’s not like she hasn't cooked before, she actually really enjoyed cooking. She just usually did it with her siblings or Grace, it felt a bit lonely in the kitchen without anyone.

The girl brought out a large bowl and began cracking eggs into it, beating them as she turned on the stove. She carefully took a pan out of the cabinet, mindful of the noise, and poured the eggs slowly into it, wincing as it began to sizzle loudly. The girl paused and listened to unconscious bodies on the other side of the room, they remained undisturbed, hearts beating slowly and evenly. Going back to work, Vanya popped slices of bread into the toaster and brought out another pan, laying strips of bacon on it now that her hands were free while the eggs were cooking. The smell of cooking food began to waft up, making her stomach rumble and her headache lighten up. 

Vanya heard someones breathing from the other room stutter and looked up, seeing Five shoot up from his previously reclined position, his head whipping around. She quickly waved to get his attention before he could wake anyone and his eyes zeroed in on her movement. He laid back down and rolled off the couch but before he could hit the floor, his body was enveloped in the white light of his quirk. In the same second, the shortest brother appeared standing next to her, the light disappearing off his body. He snatched a piece of bacon hot off the pan, hissing at its heat as he tossed it back and forth in his hands. The sister clicked her tongue at him, “Good morning to you, too.” she whispered sarcastically.

Five groaned quietly and leaned forward on the counter, laying his forehead against the cool surface as he chewed his stolen piece of bacon, “Give me a break, I’m dying.” he pleaded softly, the fact that there was no bite in his voice revealed that he was truly in pain. “Get some water, food’s almost done,” the girl patted his back and turned to the food when a  _ ding!  _ came from the toaster. The green-eyed brother clumsily grabbed a glass from the cabinet while his sister buttered the toast and platted it, making noise as he knocked the glasses against each other.

From the other side of the room, Vanya heard a few of the other’s being roused by Five’s struggle with the cabinet. As she placed the eggs and bacon on plates, she looked up and saw Allison and Ben sitting up, both rubbing their heads. Vanya snapped her fingers at them, drawing their attention. She made a motion to the food she had placed on the counter and could practically see them salivate. Ben shot up and made his way to the pair in the kitchenette while Allison gingerly got up, obviously feeling the effects of the alcohol from last night. 

When they both reached the counter, Vanya asked, “You guys okay?” and slid the plates of food toward them. She laughed when Ben nodded his head but Allison miserably shook her head, “Dumb question, I guess, we did drink a lot.” she chuckled softly. Five stuffed his face with eggs and grimaced, “Don’t mention drinking right now, I never want to hear that word again.” 

Allison gulped down the glass of water Vanya set in front of her in one go, “I’m so not looking forward to a 22-hour flight like this.” she whined, rubbing her eyes as she delicately began cutting up her toast with a knife and fork. The pale girl winced when she heard her sister’s flight time, her 14 hours on the plane to Japan was looking a lot better now. 

Vanya heard someone shift on the couch and saw a head pop up from her peripheral vision. She turned away from the conversation her siblings were starting and saw Diego looking around in confusion at the empty spaces. “Over here,” she called, “Wake up the rest and come eat.” gesturing to the food the siblings were standing around and eating. His face lit up at the feast and he threw two pillows up into the air, sending them flying at impossible angles into the sleeping faces of Luther and Klaus with his quirk. Diego hopped over the couch and stumbled his way to the counter as the brothers sputtered and sat up at their rude awakening. They looked around and saw the others eating, not saying anything as their eyes widened and they quickly made their way toward the group. 

Klaus looked the best out of the seven, irritatingly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, while Luther looked like he just got run over by a truck, dark circles under his eyes, messy hair, and visibly sweating. The tallest brother hunched over his plate of food and downed his glass of water in a single gulp, wiping his mouth, he groaned, “Agony. I’m in pure agony.”

Klaus cheerfully munched on his breakfast, “That was a great game, you guys! I don’t think I’ve ever had that much fun drinking before!” He took a sip of his water before speaking again, “Five, I didn’t know you could dance like that. And I didn’t think of Diego as a singer but boy, was I wrong!”

Both brothers mentioned looked displeased that their siblings remembered their acts from last night as they laughed at Klaus’ statement, both of them flipping the group off as they ate. Vanya finished the last of her eggs, surprised at how fast she had scarfed everything down, when a thought came to her head, “Oh! Why didn’t I get my violin? I could have done sound effects.” she moaned pitifully in regret.

“You could have done that  _ wah-wah-wah _ sound when Allison kept failing at headstands and insisting that she could do it.” Luther snickered. Allison’s head popped up from where she had been focused on eating, cheeks dark, “I can do it! I just couldn’t do it last night!” she said indignantly, “And what about you, Luther? You sure didn’t need any other sound effects, you were making them yourself.”

Luther’s brows pulled together in confusion, “What are you talking about?” he asked but the curly-haired sister just wordlessly pointed behind her. They all turned to look, following her finger to the wall by the couch where she and Luther had been sleeping. Partially hidden behind a sheet that had been hung up to cover it, were a bunch of holes in the wall. Specifically, holes the size of Luther’s fists.

All seven of them, minus Allison, looked at the wall, back at Luther, then back at the wall, then back to Luther before bursting out laughing. The tallest brother clasped his hands, which Vanya just now noticed had tiny scratches on his knuckles, over his face, going pale. “Dad’s gonna kill me.” he quaked in horror.

Ben gasped, trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard, “Okay- okay, that’s so much funnier than Vanya floating up to the ceiling and refusing to come down.”

The girl in question’s jaw dropped open at the mention of the embarrassing moment from last night, “Hey, I came down!”

“When you passed out!”

“Semantics! I still came down!”

“Don’t worry, Monkey brain.” Five said to Luther, interrupting Ben and Vanya, “What Dad doesn’t know, won’t hurt  _ us. _ Just keep it a secret until we leave.” he advised as he pushed his empty plate away. 

At the mention of leaving, the group all looked at the clock, it was 2:48 now. The mood considerably darkened. They would need to get ready soon. Luther stood and cleared his throat, “Well. I guess we should go get ready and bring our stuff down.” he said haltingly, his voice low.

Diego shoved his plate away with a clatter and crossed his arms, “I’m not ready.” he hissed, glaring at the empty space in front of him. Allison placed a hand on his shoulder, “I don’t think any of us are, D.” she whispered.

“We still got the ride to the airport, at least,” Klaus suggested.

Vanya nodded at him, “That’s right, it's not over until it's over.” she affirmed. Diego suddenly seemed to realize that he was being stared at and flushed, wiping quickly at his eyes.

“Yeah. Yeah, I know, it's just- ” Diego swallowed roughly, “I hate it here but… like, it's all I’ve ever known. I have no idea what to expect now.” He didn’t stutter as much this time when he spoke, Vanya’s heart hurt as she realized it must have been something he had practiced saying.

Five leaned back against the wall behind him, a small smirk on his face, “The idea of going into a new situation with practically no experience is mortifying when we’ve all been conditioned to understand that information is a key aspect to a mission. It’s like we’re going against our training.”

Ben shivered at the statement, “It feels weird. I’m half expecting to get yelled at to run laps because of it.” The seven siblings all groaned, their father was famous among the Umbrella Academy for assigning laps whenever a student did something that upset him. And it wasn’t like we were told to run one or two laps, he would assign 50, at least, and go up the more he was frustrated with them.

Vanya gathered up the empty plates from everyone and dumped them in the sink, knowing that an android or employee would clean them up after they left the room, “Well, that’s one thing I won’t miss,” she admitted playfully. The siblings smiled but no one had the heart to laugh, the inevitable deadline of their departure weighing heavily on them. Five pushed off from the wall, walking to the door, “The sooner we get everything down, the more time we’ll have before we leave. Diego, get Mom to bring up the luggage trolleys, I don’t want to jump to the front door five times back and forth from my room.” he stated, pausing for a second to look at his siblings before walking out the door. The sharpness of his commands was softened by the fact that he was walking. Vanya knew if he wanted to get away from them, he would have teleported, or “jumped” as he called it, away as soon as he finished speaking but now, it spoke volumes that he had taken his time with them.

Ben sighed, “I guess that’s our cue.” he declared, pushing himself up from where he was leaning on the counter. The rest followed suit, resigning themselves to the fact that they were in the final stretch of graduation. Vanya was the first out the door, followed by her siblings. They walked quietly down the hall, taking in the paintings of students who had already graduated decorated the hallways since they had lived at the Academy. There was not a single spec of dust on any of the frames, everything in the house was expertly cleaned by either human employees or androids. Reginald couldn’t stand imperfections, either in his students or his manor, and had ridiculous standards for everything. Not once in Vanya’s time here had she seen dust on any surface, not even in the records archive or the back section of the library. 

Although the paintings of previous students were occasionally changed out when the student lost Reginald’s favor by doing something unacceptable in their hero career or dying, the decorations in the manor mostly remained the same throughout the years, which Vanya liked. It was nice to have consistency, in her eyes.

The group of siblings poured out of the hallway to the atrium, eyeing each other as they waited for someone to speak. Luther stepped up, “Well,” he paused, “see you guys in a bit?”

Allison smiled at him, “See you in a bit.” she said and reached for Vanya’s hand, beginning to pull her to the elevator to the girl’s side of the manor. Vanya waved over her shoulder at her brothers, watching as they waved back and followed Luther to the elevator to their side.

The sisters once again made their trek up to the seventh floor, not stopped by anyone this time. Afternoon classes were usually in full swing around this time, ending around four for dinner break then evening classes started at five, so the wide halls were empty of students. 

Allison and Vanya reached their door and glanced at each other, Vanya squeezed the other girl’s hand and gave her a smile before letting go and entering her own room. It was as she had left it the night before, bare and all items packed away. Vanya grabbed a baggy, dark red long sleeve t-shirt and pair of loose, rolled up jeans from one of the boxes and changed into it before shoving her pajamas in the same box. The girl looked around the room, spotting the packing tape she needed on the small desk in the corner. 

She walked over and grabbed it before turning to the pile of boxes.  _ This is it, this will seal the deal,  _ she thought. Vanya took a deep breath, feeling silly that she had to hype herself up, and began taping up the boxes so they would remain sealed during the trip. She was careful as she wrapped everything up, making sure no lid would accidentally come uncovered.

When she finished, Vanya sat on the floor and leaned against the boxes, closing her eyes and listening to the ambiance around her. From the next room, she could hear Allison taping up her boxes, as well, and from the other side of the manor, she could hear her brothers roaming around in their rooms but other than that, they were the only students inside. A few employees and androids were running around, cleaning and cooking, but Vanya couldn’t hear Pogo, the butler, in the manor. He must be busy with preparation for their leave. The clicking of heels drew Vanya’s attention from down the hallway. She focused on the sound, listening closely after not hearing a heartbeat but instead small whirs of machinery. The gears clicked in a familiar way that she knew. Grace.

The girl stood up as Grace delicately knocked on Allison’s door, “Darling?” her honeyed voice called, “It's Mom, are you ready?”

Vanya heard Allison’s heartbeat pick up at the android’s words, “Y-yeah. I’m good.” she answered shakily, footsteps heading to the door that creaked as it opened. Vanya tried her best to tune them out to give them some privacy however it was difficult as she didn’t have a choice with her enhanced hearing. Instead, she focused inward, looking for the counter inside her head that displayed her points of power saved up. It was at 77 of 100 points now, a bit higher than when she checked in it the morning. The dark-haired girl bit her lip, she’d have to use some points before she got on her flight, it would be really bad if she had to release energy on the plane. Vanya drew herself out of her meditation and walked over to the window, pushing it open. She stuck her hand out and concentrated on the power stored up inside her, feeling the staticy energy build up in her palm that she had facing outwards. Blue light of all shades glowed from her hand, warbling as she pushed it out but didn’t release, low then rising in pitch as the energy built up and up, seeking release.

Vanya held onto the spasming energy in her hand as long as she could, then let go of it all at once. A sonic boom exploded out from her hand, blue light streaking out across the sky. Birds in the trees outside her window screeched and flew away, frightened by the ear-splitting boom. The dark-eyed girl dropped her hand back to her side and closed the window, leaning against the sill. The light of her energy waves had already dissipated but the birds were still circling, not trusting the safety of their trees anymore. Vanya felt bad but didn’t dwell on it, it was necessary to release that energy, after all. She checked her mental counter- 49 points, a good amount of energy used. Her counter would always go up as she absorbed the sounds around her but the blast she released would be enough to keep her from reaching the maximum cap of 100 points. Reaching that cap was like filling a water balloon to its full capabilities, it could only hold so much before it exploded, which would be especially dangerous if she was around other people or in the pressurized cabin of a plane. Vanya took care to manage her energy storage, never allowing it to completely fill up and release without her consent. It was tedious work, checking the counter and releasing energy when needed but she preferred it to accidentally hurting someone.

A soft knock on her door made the girl stand up straight, “Sweetheart, can I come in?” a gentle voice asked. Vanya smoothed down her sleeves, “Yeah, come in.” she replied. The door opened, revealing Grace in all her perfection. Her curled blonde hair bounced as she glided in, her pinup dress elegantly swishing around her shins. She dragged a luggage trolley behind her that squeaked quietly as it was wheeled in. Grace’s painted red lips were stretched warmly into a smile, “Were you letting off some steam, (little one)?” she asked pleasantly, using Vanya’s Russian pet name. Speaking to someone in her native language was always calming to Vanya, especially after her tantrums, though she hated when people called her breakdowns that.

“(I’m fine, Mom. Just had to lower the counter one last time before I left).” the girl answered back in Russian to let the android know she was calm. “Is Allison already done?” Vanya inquired, this time in English, realizing she couldn’t hear her sister in her room anymore. Grace’s smile didn’t leave her face as she nodded and looked at the stack of boxes, “She should be heading to the ground floor now, we had a nice talk while we were putting all her stuff on the trolley,” the android's blue eyes made a mechanical whirring sound as they slid over to meet Vanya’s dark ones, “Is there anything you’d like to talk about, dear?”

Vanya would rather claw her own skin off than talk to someone about her feelings, even someone she was as close to as Grace. The only people she could really open up to were her siblings, she wondered how she would cope when she was hundreds of miles away from them. The girl knew therapy existed but was hesitant to consider it. Although she knew it would benefit her, the idea of talking to a stranger about what was going on in her head was off-putting.

“No, Mom, I’m fine.” she answered impassively, moving to the boxes in the corner of the room. Grace’s picture-perfect smile didn’t move at Vanya’s tone, “Alright, dear. Let’s get everything ready then.” she said warmly.

“Okay.”

Moving the boxes to the trolley was an easy task, especially for an inhumanly strong robot and an athletic teenager. They were done awkwardly quick and stood silently for a moment, making Vanya feel like she should say something to fill the space.

“Mom-”

“Vanya-”

They spoke at the same time, stopping when they realized the other was talking. Grace tilted her head, eyes artificially shining with mirth, “Sorry about that, go ahead.”

Vanya kicked at the wooden floor with her bare feet, uncomfortable, “I just wanted to say thanks. For taking care of us. You made it easier to deal with things, just by being here. And I’m sorry, for being difficult all these years.” she said haltingly, but she made sure to look Grace in the eye as she spoke.

Vanya’s mother figure placed a hand on her shoulder and swept her eyes around the empty room, “You never have to apologize for feeling emotions, Vanya. It was a privilege for me to take care of you children,” Grace twirled on her heel and walked to the stripped bed, sitting down in a single fluid motion. She patted the space beside her. The pale girl walked over and settled on the bed, legs crossed and hands in her lap. Grace reached over and placed a hand on Vanya’s folded ones, taking a deep breath that she didn’t need, “Did I ever tell you about my first day?”

Vanya blinked, realizing she hadn’t. Grace never referred to Reginald as her creator or the fact that she wasn’t the siblings’ biological mother- it was just something that was always known but never said. The girl shook her head.

The android squeezed her hand, smiling softly, “It was what I imagine waking but from a nightmare was like. It was dark and very quiet. I existed in that calmness for just a brief second before a surge of energy flooded through me and I couldn’t breathe, well-” she laughed, “I don’t really need to breathe, but at that moment it was all that I wanted. And suddenly, I was awake, your father standing over me. In an instant, I knew my purpose, what I was built for, and what I needed to do. He programmed me to care for you.” she practically cooed.

“Your father explained everything quickly and ran a diagnostic test, then he sent me to see you. I didn’t even need a guide, I knew everything I needed to know already, the layout of the manor, how to care for babies, history up until that point. It was all there. And when I walked into the nursery and saw all of you in there, the tiniest little things,” Grace pet Vanya’s cheek lovingly as she said this, “I knew there was something, I didn’t know at that point.”

Vanya stared up at her mother, waiting for her to continue. Grace moved a piece of hair that had fallen into Vanya’s face behind her ear and looked her in the eyes, “I didn’t know how to love.” she confessed, her smile turning sad, “But, you all helped me figure that out, little by little. I began to know what loving you meant. And, I will never know what love feels like for humans, but for me- it’s breathtaking. I feel it so much every day, it hurts. To love you is the greatest gift I’ve ever had, I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything, even if it meant I could become human.” Grace cupped Vanya’s face delicately as she spoke to her.

Vanya’s heart was beating out of her chest, she’d never seen Grace like this, so open about her feelings and her thoughts, but something bothered her, “Mom, did you ever want to become human? To be like us?” she questioned, unsure of what answer she wanted. Grace’s eyes softened and she let go of Vanya’s face, placing her hands in her own lap instead, “I suppose I did want it, once or twice. But more for the ability to give you all a sense of normalcy, a real mother, one of flesh and blood, one that could grow old with you. There's no denying the fact that I can’t understand you all perfectly, even after raising you, because I’m not human, there will always be that divide.”

It was eye-opening for Vanya to hear Grace speak about her own existence, she was always the strong mother figure with no personality other than caring but listening to her speak about her emotions, Grace was more human at this moment than she had been all the years that Vanya had been with her.

“Will you be alright? After we leave?” the girl probed, clenching her folded hands. Grace looked forward, out the window, “There’s always work to be done around here, I’ll be needed for something. Maybe I’ll raise another class, or become a cleaner. But I’ll never forget my first kids, my darlings.” the smile had dropped from her face, the android looked so serious without it. She looked like such a stranger.

Emotion welled up in Vanya and energy began warbled around her hands, the blue lights beginning to shine through her clenched fingers. Grace noticed, “Honey, you-” she began reaching toward Vanya but was interrupted by the girl throwing her arms around her. Vanya shook with the restraint of holding the energy in but she still held onto Grace’s shoulders, murmuring statements of gratitude and love over and over again into the android’s hair. Grace said nothing, nothing needed to be said, just rubbing her back as Vanya trembled in her arms.

They stayed like that for a while, time seemed to blur around her as Vanya focused on keeping the energy in and trying to memorize the feeling of Grace. Eventually, though, the warbling and the light faded, as did the emotions that threatened to spill from her eyes, and Vanya removed herself from the android’s arms. The feeling of cool hands on her face made her look up, seeing Grace stare down at her with the saddest look she had ever seen on her face. “It’s time now, sweetie, everyone’s waiting.”

Vanya swallowed roughly and got up, grabbing the pair of socks and white sneakers she had set aside and slipping them on, “I’m ready.” she stated, a note of heartbreak in her voice. Grace gave her a half-smile and stood up, smoothing down her dress, and wheeled the trolley closer to the girl, allowing her to grab it and wheel it closer to her.

“I guess we should get going then. I’ll walk you down to everyone so I can say bye.” Grace murmured, moving closer to Vanya and rubbing her back. The girl clutched the trolley handle tighter.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Vanya grabbed her carry-on bag from where it hung on the door and swung it around her shoulders. The girl looked around her room one last time and began pushing the trolley out of the door. Together, Vanya and her mother walked down the hallway, neither of them looking back.


	5. Vanya: Leaving

The walk down to the atrium was solemn, Vanya and Grace did not speak but they remained close to each other. The android's hand did not leave her daughter’s shoulder and the daughter didn’t want it to.

The elevator's  _ ding!  _ sounded a million times louder than it usually did, resounding out like a church bell. The doors parted to reveal her siblings all standing there, with vulnerable looks on their faces, wearing their carry-on bags on their shoulders and standing beside their own trolleys. Vanya rushed forward, dragging her trolley behind her. Her siblings rushed to meet her, enveloping her in a giant hug. Klaus was openly sobbing, burying his face in Vanya’s shoulder, while the others just held onto her tightly. Slowly, they released her, and Diego, who had been standing in front of Vanya, looked over her shoulder and choked, “Mom…”, his face pinching up. 

The click of Grace’s heels came up from behind her and Vanya turned, feeling her mother place a hand on her and Klaus’ shoulder, perfectly sliding into the little circle they had made. Unlike everyone else, Grace was beaming, “My darlings, our time together is ending, but your lives are just beginning. It will be hard but try to be excited for this new chapter of your lives. It will all be okay.” she comforted the teenagers. None of the siblings looked convinced, but they all smiled at Grace. The fact that she believed in them was enough to give them strength, even if it only lasted for a while.

The harsh clearing of a throat drew everyone’s attention to the top of the stairs. There, stood Pogo and Reginald Hargreeves. 

Their father, most likely a clone, though there was no way to ever know which one was the original, was wearing his signature three-piece suit but in a different color than yesterday and his monocle glinted harshly in the light of the afternoon.

Reginald stared down at them coldly and took a breath, “You have graduated from the academy. Congratulations. But this does not mean that you can slack off now. Your skills will give you an advantage in your entrance exams but make no mistake, you are a pitiful excuse compared to the average pro-hero. Learn from your schools, should you even be accepted. And remember this, if you manage to not get accepted into a  _ single  _ school in your chosen country, the Umbrella Academy will not allow you back here. I will financially provide for you until you are 18, as is required by law, but you will never be allowed back to this estate. Should you choose to reveal your origins at your schools, you will be viewed as representatives of the Academy. Do well to remember what is at stake here. That is all, you are dismissed.”

Without any further words, Reginald turned and walked back, disappearing down the hallway he had come from. Grace’s sigh from behind them was so quiet, it was almost imperceivable. The siblings turned and looked at each other, disappointed but not surprised by the final words that their adoptive father gave them. They all turned back to Pogo who had made his way down the stairs while Reginald was speaking and had reached them.

Pogo was the head butler in the manor, he was smart, diligent, and empathetic to the teenagers' situation while also obeying Reginald’s words. He managed household affairs and student records, tedious things that Reginald deemed below him, so he passed them onto Pogo. The butler never took offense to this and he always completed each task swiftly and with great care. Pogo was the dream head butler any boss could ask for, though there was something different that separated him from the average butler.

Pogo was not human. In fact, he was a chimpanzee.

The rare instance of an animal having a quirk, Pogo was insanely intelligent, to the point where his brilliance rivaled Sir Reginald Hargreeves, the mastermind behind the Umbrella Academy. Pogo had been found in the jungles of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, speaking to and understanding the humans that discovered him. He was sold on the black market to a lab that had experimented on him for years before Reginald discovered his existence and purchased him immediately, the thought of having such a rare creature in his possession too tempting to pass up. For nearly 20 years, Pogo had been by Reginald’s side, working to repay what he viewed as a debt for the man saving his life. All of Vanya’s life, Pogo had been a constant, silent presence, never interacting directly too much with the students of the Academy and instead was an elusive background character.

Looking at Pogo now, Vanya could see little changes that age had given him since the last time that the girl had seen him this close up. His fur was a bit more grey and his skin had a few more wrinkles. His kind eyes and calm face, however, were just how she remembered them.

“Children,” he greeted pleasantly, “How nice it is to see you all today. It is unfortunate that we have so little time together. Nevertheless, that is the situation but before we go, I must give these to you,” he said, producing a tray. On it, were seven black phone cases with post-it notes that had their designated numbers on them. The siblings reached over each other and grabbed the phone case with their number on it. Vanya took the post-it note off and flipped the phone case open, inside there was the latest cellphone, shiny and new, and on the other side was a sectioned place, like a wallet, for cards and Vanya’s ID. She looked closer and saw that slipped into the wallet section of the case, was a black credit card with the Umbrella Academy logo on it and, in small silver letters below that, was the word ‘Unlimited’. The girl marveled at the sight, her father’s wealth did not surprise her, but his generosity did. 

Diego nudged her in the side with his elbow, wiggling his eyebrows as he held up the credit card, which the butler did not fail to notice. “Please remember that while your funds are unlimited, we ask that you be financially smart and keep track of your expenses.” Pogo quickly spoke up, seeing the devious look in Diego’s eyes. The butler composed himself, “As for the phone, all numbers that you may need from the Academy have been saved in your contact list. Everything else is up to you to customize." Vanya glanced down at the phone and slipped it into her pocket, she would check it out later. Pogo looked down at the watch on his wrist.

“We should get going, the first set of flights will leave soon.” the butler proclaimed, making his way through the group and opened the door for them, clearly expecting them to follow without any delay. 

Vanya swallowed, the parting words from her father had gone much faster than she anticipated. A gentle push made her look up, Grace softly smiled down at her, “It’s time. This is where I leave you. ”

The girl dove into the android’s arms, embracing her tightly. When she released her, Diego took Vanya’s spot and when he released Grace, Klaus took his spot, and so on until all the siblings had given their mother figure a hug. The android held on tightly to each child and clasped her hands firmly in front of herself when the last one let go, “Goodbye, children.” she whispered.

Various versions of “Bye, Mom”, “Goodbye, Mother”, and “Bye, Grace” were softly spoken, the siblings took a moment to look around before slinking out of the door that Pogo held open.

Vanya pushed her trolley in front of her, following her siblings out of the house and firmly keeping her eyes on Klaus’ shoulders in front of her. Her siblings pushed their trolleys down the ramp by the stairs, she heard Pogo close the door behind her and Vanya’s fists clenched when she heard the metallic thud of Grace’s knees hitting the floor and a wail of despair muffled by the palm of her hand once they were out of sight. The girl dug her nails into the metal of the trolley. For once, Vanya hated her quirk and the abilities it gave her.

At the end of the ramp, there were two vehicles in the driveway, a van and a U-Haul type truck with a man in an Umbrella Academy employee uniform leaning against it, his face blank. Pogo rounded the siblings, coming to stand in the front, “Please place your belongings in the truck together in a pile. I am aware each box has your name on it but this will help eliminate the risk of jumbling your belongings. Once you are done, keep your carry-on with you and take a seat in the van.” he said, formally and with no room for argument.

The siblings pushed their trolleys to the open back of the truck, the man leaning up against it following their moves with his eyes. One by one, they loaded their meager amount of belongings into the truck, careful to keep the boxes together. Vanya was the last one to move her stuff into the truck, she noticed how even with all of their stuff put together, the truck still wasn’t filled. For seven teenager’s belongings, it was a lacking amount when Vanya thought about how it was everything they owned.

The gravel crunched under the employee’s shoes as he walked over, silently grabbing the handle and sliding the door closed with a metallic crash. The girl didn’t wince at the sound, not wanting to give the man any satisfaction when he was clearly trying to bother her with the loud clang. She stared at him for a moment, enough to make him look uncomfortable and walked to the van where her siblings had all taken their seats. Behind her, she heard the man grumble, “Freak.” under his breath and walk over to the driver’s side of the truck, driving off before the girl even reached the van.

The van’s doors were open and Pogo was already in the driver’s seat. How a chimpanzee managed to legally get a driver’s license, Vanya would never understand. She hopped in the back seat, the only space still available, next to Five and slid the door shut. The butler turned around in his seat and looked at the group, “Your possessions will be taken on Academy-owned private planes to your designated countries. They should reach your apartments within 12 hours of your arrival, though you should call your father’s secretary if they have not reached you after a day. You all have enough clothes to last you until then?” he asked.

Seven heads nodded and Pogo smiled as well as a chimpanzee’s face allowed him. He turned back to face forward in his seat and started the car, “Then that is all, let’s begin our drive.”

From the middle seat, Vanya heard Allison whimper and saw her sister turn her face into Klaus’ shoulder. The dark-eyed girl looked out the van’s windows as the car began to drive away, the grand multi-story building she had lived in for most of her life slowly getting smaller. They passed kids of all ages out on the training fields, the small groups looking back at them. Some waved and some looked angry, while most just stared. She had been like that once, too, unsure of what to feel when she saw the van driving away with the graduating class each year. When she was younger, she hated them for getting out but as she got older, Vanya became more and more indifferent as the years passed until it was the previous year.

Last year, at the sight of the van leaving with the graduating class, that one was even smaller than her own class, and being hit with the realization that she was going to be out of the Academy in a year was enough to send the girl into a panic attack. She had been on her hands and knees in the grass, gasping for air after the thought had knocked it out of her. Allison had been with her then, they had been doing sprints at the time and she had crouched next to her, rubbing Vanya’s back. The dark-haired girl had barely been able to control her powers, the energy popping off in little explosions around her body yet Allison still stood by her, enduring the mini-blasts to comfort her sister. Vanya had sobbed when she calmed down and realized what she had done, crying and groveling at her sister’s feet for forgiveness but Allison had never held it against her.

Yet, now despite all she had felt a year ago, Vanya felt numb as the van reached the gates of the Academy. The soft sniffles and crying of the other siblings filled the air yet Vanya felt nothing. She felt a bit guilty about it but she just felt an immense sense of relief as the van passed the last security checkpoint on the property and began heading down the long stretch of road bordered by pine trees. This road was one of the only ways to get in and out of the Academy and although it did not look like much, it was heavily guarded by people, cameras, and motion sensors. Reginald took great care in protecting his investments.

Moving her head away from the window, Vanya looked at her siblings. In the first row behind Pogo, Luther, Allison, and Klaus had slumped against their seats, apparently tired after their emotional farewell with Grace. Allison had tucked herself into Luther’s arm, eyes closed but from the pace of her breathing, she was not asleep, the blond brother was looking out the car window at the passing trees, and the curly-haired brother had his knees folded and his head laying softly on his crossed arms. The second row was filled with Diego and Ben, who were turned to face each other and talking quietly. Vanya tried to tune them out to give them time for themselves, instead focusing on the beat of their hearts as she looked around. 

Five was in the last row with her, arms crossed with feet propped up on the headrest of the empty middle seat in between Diego and Ben. His eyes were closed and his head was tipped back against the rear window but his breathing and lip, both trembling ever so slightly, giving away the fact that he was awake. Vanya reached out, gently nudging his arm. The pale boy’s eyes sprang open at the contact and zeroed in on her, “What do you want.”

His question was filled with so much hostility that it didn’t even sound like a question but the girl ignored it, Five’s pissy moods were something she was used to after all the years she had spent with him. Instead of getting mad, Vanya held her hand out, “Wanna play? We have time.” she assured him, seeing her brother’s eyebrows raise.

The drive to the airport would be a long one, the Academy was in a rural part of the state, away from any and all big cities. It would be an hour and a half before they even got back to civilization and it would take another 20 minutes after that to reach the airport. All Umbrella Academy graduates were told this in preparation before they left because after all, information was key in a mission. It didn’t surprise Vanya that Reginald, the pro-hero that he was, viewed sending the students that graduated out into the world as sending sick kicks out on a mission.

Five stared at her, looking in slight disbelief at her previous suggestion. His sister tilted her head, “Or not?” she questioned, not dropping her hand.

The boy glanced from her hand to her face and his lips curled into a smirk, “You never know when to leave well enough alone,” he raked a hand through his hair and gripped her hand with bruising force, “Fine, I’ll play. But don’t go supernova when I beat your ass.” he said pompously.

Vanya grinned back, just as meanly, and gripped his hand with equal force, “Wouldn’t dream of it.” she chuckled, eyes flashing to a lighter shade of blue for a split second. Five pursed his lips, “Careful. Your Other is showing.” he warned.

“Oops.” Vanya grimaced, focusing inward on herself to get the glee that had not come from the rational side of her brain under control. Her Other, as Five had called it, was an extension of herself, it had all her memories, thoughts, and feelings, but it was looser with expressing its emotions than Vanya normally was. Most of the time, Vanya was ‘Default Vanya,’ able to control herself, dark-haired, and with dark eyes however, when she got too excited or used her power too much, control of her body shifted to the Other. It wasn’t a completely different person, just another side of her but with a different approach to life. It was noticeable when the Other took over, Vanya’s skin would become even paler, her eye bags would grow larger and darker, her eyes would invert, turning from dark eyes with light pupils to light eyes with dark pupils. But the main difference was her hair, which usually would be dark brown at the roots and to her shoulders then gradually get lighter until it hit the bone-white ends, would completely turn white.

Vanya glanced at her hair, which was styled into two long braids that resting over her shoulders. The white ends had not extended any more upward than they usually were, a sign that the Other had not yet shifted to the surface. The girl didn’t really know how to refer to the Other, by all standards, it was her, just with more expressive freedom and sadistic tendencies. Her siblings poked fun at it and called it the White Violin because of how it bleached her form when it took over her body and it first appeared when she was having a tantrum about learning to play the violin. However, the Other was a force to be reckoned with, because while Vanya had restraint when fighting, it did not. 

Vanya rolled her knuckles, feeling the staticky glee from the Other retreat as she focused on herself, “Sorry, Five.”

The boy shrugged, “It’s fine, it’s not like you're the only one that gets too quirk-happy.”

The girl nodded her head from side to side, “I guess you’re right,” she hummed. Even with all their training, the seven siblings had slip-ups with their quirks every once and a while, especially when emotions were involved. 

“Anyways,” Five interrupted her thoughts, “We still playing?” he raised an eyebrow at their still joined hands.

Vanya grinned, this time less feral now that her emotional side was under control, “You bet.”

Five and Vanya settled into more comfortable positions and smirked at each other. Together the pair of siblings chanted, “One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war!”


	6. Numbers: Divided

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The airport.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> totally forgot to wish you guys a happy new year last chapter! so sorry about that, hope you all had a good january :)

Five and Vanya thrashed their grappled hands together in an impressively violent game of thumb war for the duration of the drive to the airport, occasionally chatting with the rest of their siblings and challenging them to the nearly finger-breaking game. 

It was a quiet ride, emotions were subdued enough after the emotional moments of the siblings’ goodbyes to their room, their mother figure, and their lives at the academy yet the looming cloud of their upcoming final goodbye still lingered over their heads.

That background anxiety was drawn to the foreground as they entered the city and signs of the airport began to appear more and more frequently. Conversations tapered off as the siblings noticed the traffic getting heavier, a sign that they were close. Five and Vanya, who had been playing nearly every silly car game you could think of as a distraction, began looking out the window as they did not feel in the mood to play anymore. Vanya noticed the sign for the airport on the side of the highway they were on, ‘John F. Kennedy International Airport: Next Exit’.

Her stomach clenched as Pogo began to merge to take the exit. The girl heard six other heartbeats in the car speed up as her siblings noticed as well. The quiet inside the van was suffocating, the only sounds coming from anyone were the small noises that only the girl with the sound manipulation quirk could hear. 

Pogo began maneuvering through the difficult streets that lead to the airport, either unaware or uncaring of the stifling silence of the teenagers. From the seat nearest to the front, Vanya heard Klaus mumbling, most likely to himself but also quite possibly to a ghost, in a quick, hurried manner. The girl chose not to focus on his words, whatever was being said was clearly none of her business. A small, clicking sound emerged from the middle seat as the airport came closer and closer into view, Diego must have been biting his nails again. The girl knew her brother did that in times of stress but she was surprised he still had anything considering what a rough week it had been for him. She ignored her brother as Pogo pulled alongside a curb, just below a sign that side ‘JFK Drop Off- No Parking or Extended Stops’.

The butler put the van into park and turned in his seat with a smile, “Well,” he said pleasantly, “This is where I leave you, children. Take care to hurry, some of your flights leave soon. Goodbye.”

Vanya blinked at the sudden goodbye from Pogo and glanced at the clock. It was almost 7 at night, the drive to the airport had taken nearly two hours from the Academy’s rural location. A bit disheartened by the lack of emotion in Pogo’s goodbye but equally glad that he would not cause her to feel sad, Vanya was the first to shuffle towards the van door, gripping the handle and sliding it open for everyone. At their sister’s movement, the rest of the siblings grabbed their carry-on bags off their laps and followed the dark-haired girl out.

A few people had stopped to watch as the siblings tumbled out of the van and waved awkwardly to Pogo as he pulled away from the curb, driving away without another word. Vanya was glad that they were dropped off in a nondescript van. Had it been one with the signature Academy logo, paparazzi would have flooded the airport and the siblings' faces would have been pasted all over the news, their identity would have been known before the day was over and that small bit of anonymity they would have enjoyed would have been ripped from them.

Personally, Vanya planned to keep the fact that she was a Hargreeves a secret from the public but since the staff in her new school would know she was an Umbrella Academy graduate, it was likely that her classmates would know as well. Which she had no problem with, but the girl hoped that they would not treat her as an outsider because of it. 

“Um,” Luther hummed, gawking at the van disappearing into the distance before turning back to his siblings, “Guess we should get going?”

Ben clicked his tongue, looking perturbed, “Was it too much to hope for that he would tell us what we’re supposed to do? It’s not like any of us have been here before or know how things work.”

“How hard can it be? We’ve seen people in airports on TV before.” Five shrugged, “Besides, we can just ask someone who works here.”

Allison nodded along with what her brother was saying, “Yeah, we’ve got the best information-gathering training that this world has to offer, how hard can getting through an airport be?”

\-------

As it turned out, getting through the airport was, in fact, very hard. Despite the fact that there were seven, well trained and educated teenagers, it seemed TV was not an accurate representation of what etiquette was expected at an airport. The siblings got in the wrong line for a security check several times, then were stopped and placed separately into guarded rooms when TSA discovered that they were all carrying knives. 

A sticky situation but it was quickly remedied when the siblings showed their Umbrella Academy ID cards. The TSA agents were sympathetic to the siblings’ ignorance and allowed them to continue into the airport after a thorough checking of their carry-ons and confiscating all the weapons they had on them. Diego vehemently cursed them out in Spanish under his breath for that, only stopping when Vanya gave him a sharp look.

Luther asked the TSA agents to keep quiet about their existence, to which the agents quickly agreed. A lawsuit for exposing the existence of an Umbrella Academy student was an unspoken threat that hung over every person aware of the power that Reginald Hargreeves held over society. Still, the siblings thanked the agents for agreeing to keep their silence and proceeded to the small cafe past the security check.

They all collapsed into the chairs surrounding a table large enough to seat all seven of them with a sigh. 

“Ok. That wasn’t how I expected things to go.” Klaus lamented, leaning forward and resting his head on his carry-on bag he had placed on the table. Allison leaned back in her chair, letting her head roll against her right shoulder, “Who knew that such small knives would cause such a big hold up?” she marveled.

Five cracked his knuckles and looked at his watch, “It’s 7:51 now, what time are everyone’s flights?”

“8:30.” Klaus groaned, shoving his head further into his makeshift pillow.

“Ben and mine are at 9:15.” Allison piped up, nudging said black-haired brother, who frowned at the statement.

Vanya lifted her head from where she had been resting it in her folded arm, “Mine leaves at 9:20.”

Diego winced, “Shit, you guys are all leaving pretty much at the same time. I leave at 10.”

“I’m heading out at 9:40.” Luther droned, then glanced at the boy sitting across from him, “What about you, Five? You haven’t said.”

The pale boy sniffed and pulled at the cuffs of his plain, black long-sleeve shirt, “My flight starts boarding at 8.” he said shortly.

Allison shot up in her seat, “So soon?! You’re gonna be late!” she yelped. However, Five didn’t look bothered by this information. Instead, he rolled his eyes and pointed to himself, “Helloooo, teleportation quirk here.” he pointed out with great flare. 

Ben raised an eyebrow at him, “Do you even know where you're going?” he asked and Vanya nodded along, as far as she knew, her brother could only teleport to places that he had prior knowledge of or could visualize. Five visibly deflated, “Well- I mean- I can jump around and find it fast.” he defended himself.

Vanya held her hand out, making a ‘gimme’ motion with her fingers, “Lemme see your ticket, I’ll listen for the gate number.”

As sheepishly as possible for a smug guy like Five, he pulled his folder out of his bag and handed his sister the ticket from inside it. The dark-haired girl grasped the ticket and read the gate number: 8. She closed her eyes and listened intently, searching the pandemonium of airport noises. She shifted through the babble of people talking, crying children, and the rumbling of the many air conditioners until she heard the cool voice of the announcer speaking pop up from the clamor, “-gate 8, now boarding. Flight 567 to the UK, gate 8 is now boarding.”

Vanya opened her eyes, looking at her brother, “It’s a good thing you're close. It’s just past the Cinnabon and right before the bathrooms. Picture a lobby with a bunch of people sitting down and a huge line. Sounds like the plane’s gonna be packed.” she listed off, giving him details so he could teleport easier. 

Five nodded, eyes shifting to the direction she had given him then back to his fidgeting siblings. The Hargeeves’ looked at each other, unsure of what to do, their brother made his hatred for physical contact very well known but still, it didn’t seem right to let him leave without a proper hug.

The brother in question’s face pinched up and he rolled his eyes, opening his arms with a red face, “Get over here, you morons.”

A tidal wave of siblings rushed over and engulfed him in the tightest hug that they had ever given anyone before. For a moment, it was easy to pretend that they were still back at the Academy. The noise of the airport faded away as the seven held each other for the last time. Vanya’s fingers trembled as they clutched Five’s shirt desperately and she heard his quiet hiccups as he quickly gasped them down just as fast as they came up. 

A soft bell dinged and Vanya heard the airport attendant announce that the flight would be leaving soon, she pulled back and the siblings followed, knowing the girl could hear the announcement even though they couldn’t.

Klaus was openly crying and Ben’s eyes were watery, the rest just looked distraught. Five’s poker face was back on, an attempt to regain his composure. He chewed the side of his cheek and took a step back, doing a mock salute, “Keep in touch, I’ll let you guys know when I get on the plane. See you later.”

A rare, not mean, smile graced his features and he turned, taking a half-step away and blipped away with a flash of white light.

A pit appeared in Vanya’s stomach and she took a second to breathe before returning to her chair, just as her siblings had. Klaus let out a pathetic sounding laugh, “And then there were six.” he joked, rubbing at the tears that still ran down his cheeks.

The siblings snorted, looking down at the table, none of them having the heart to meet each other’s eyes. Silence stretched across the table, Vanya did not want to speak, fearing she would start to cry. Six phones suddenly buzzed in unison, the Hargreeves’ looked at each other in confusion and pulled their new phones out of wherever they had stored them. Vanya looked at the screen to see notifications from her messaging app. 

[Number 5: created a new group chat]

[Number 5:] Hey, numbers. Just got on the plane so I’ll be logging off soon, just wanted to say bye again.

[Number 5:] Also change my contact name, I think we’re all set as our numbers in each other's contacts. K bye. Love you guys I guess.

Vanya smiled at the messages, they were so Five. She quickly typed her response so he could see it before he turned his phone off as the rest of the sibling’s messages went through and flooded the new chat. She swiped away from the chat and hit the contacts icon. Like Five had said, all her siblings were listed under their numbers, making her frown. Going through her contacts, she changed her brothers’ and sister’s contacts to their names, idly noticing the other numbers saved in her phone. A line to Reginald’s hero agency was there, as was his secretaries’ numbers, but not a direct line to the pro-hero, nor to Pogo, Grace, or anybody else, though to be honest, Vanya didn’t know that many people.

Moments like this made the girl realize how little she knew of the outside world.

Clicking the phone off, Vanya brought her attention back to her siblings’ subdued conversation. “Anybody got any good jokes? I don’t feel like I could laugh but I wanna give it a shot.” Allison explained, half-turning up her lips.

  
  


“I got one,” Diego piped up, “ ‘ I was reading a great book about an immortal dog the other day.’ ” he paused for effect and looked around, “ ‘It was impossible to put down.’ ”

Their jaws dropped open and no one could find the right words to say. Luther, the animal lover he was, looked a little green, “I don’t think that’s what she meant by ‘joke’.”

Diego pursed his lips and shrugged, bandage crinkling on his face, “I tried.” he said simply.

Ben propped his elbows on the table and leaned his face into his hands, “Maybe we should just sit in silence. Enjoy each other’s company.” Klaus stretched his hands forward, feline-like, “Agreed. I don’t wanna think right now.”

Vanya reached her hand out as well, placing it on top of his, and nodded. Ben looked at his sister and smiled, placing his hand on the pile. Diego, Luther, and Allison glanced at each other and quirked their lips up, reaching forward and placing their own hands on the groups. Everyone leaned forward, resting their head on their unused arm and closing their eyes, enjoying the feeling of warmth and the hustle of the busy cafe around them.

The siblings stayed like that for a while, undisturbed but getting odd looks every now and then from passbyers. They rested like that until a muffled charm came from one of their jackets.

Klaus groaned and reached into his pocket, silencing the sound, as the rest of the siblings lifted their heads.

“It’s time,” he said, chewing on his cheek as he put on his backpack and stood up. The rest followed, rounding the table to engulf the boy into a hug. Vanya shut her eyes and listened closely, committing the sound of her brother’s heartbeat to memory. She knew him by the pad of his footsteps, the way his blood rushed through his body, the way his muscles shifted under his skin, and every sound his body made. It was so… him. An orchestra of only Klaus, she loved all siblings but her brother was her most trusted confidant. They had stuck together the most in their times at the Academy, two rebellious children who had grown into beaten-down teenagers together. She was glad she would be leaving after him, Vanya could not bear the thought of leaving him first.

Even though their siblings, Vanya could feel him shudder. The boy pulled away, his eyes were dry for once. It seemed like he was all cried out.

“Catch you on the flip side?” he looked at everyone’s faces as he spoke, making sure to memorize their features so he would not forget them in the time he would spend without them.

“See you.”

“Bye, Klaus.”

“Later, brother.”

“Goodbye, Klaus.”

“Bye, Mouse.” Vanya whispered.

Every sibling said their goodbyes in their own way and Klaus beamed with happiness at all of them, feeling more loved in he had than he had in a while. He shifted the carry-on bag on his shoulders and smiled widely at them, “I love you guys, I’ll see you later.” he whispered.

The boy gave them a wave with both hands and turned around, walking away until he disappeared into the crowd. The group stood there, watching for a second, before returning to their seats, yet another piece of them gone. 

The siblings returned to their original resting position, there was no need to say anything, they all knew that they needed it. With his free hand, Diego gently clasped Vanya’s shoulder and gave her a sympathetic look. The siblings, while all friendly, had inevitably divided into smaller groups in their years of living together. In these subgroups, were siblings with closer friendships than others. While Diego loved Allison, the sister he was more connected with was Vanya because they were in the same inner circle. He understood her pain at that moment, Klaus had been a part of their little group and the injured boy already missed his brother dearly.

The Hargreeves siblings put their heads down again, once again waiting for the time they would say goodbye to more of their family. Vanya pondered what she should say when she left, she was practically bursting with things she wanted to tell her siblings, ‘you can do it, don’t you dare forget me, keep me updated’. But at the same time, nothing she wanted to say seemed like enough to make her siblings realize how much they mattered to her and how much she would miss them.

The girl cursed her lack of social skills, being around her sibling had made her aware of how to navigate most situations but in one like this? Where they would be saying goodbye for the foreseeable future? She was at a loss about what to do.

Without a frame of reference about what to do, Vanya was unsure of what to say. In her panic, she decided it was better to not say anything at all, rather than say the wrong thing. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt her siblings before she left and did not see them again anytime soon. 

The girl laid her head against her arm as it rested on the table, the other arm reaching into the center and resting in between the hands of her siblings, and idly tapped on the table.

_ Tap. Tap-tap. Tap _

Repeating that sequence of quiet taps allowed her to recenter herself, the rhythm calming her. Music had always calmed Vanya, it was one of the reasons why she had loved to play the violin so much, it lacked the erratic nature of other instruments like guitar or drums, but it had equal capability of rawness in its sound. The screeching of a violin always gave her chills when she played, there was something wild about it that kept her playing. Music and playing the violin had always allowed Vanya to drift away for a second, letting her get control of her feelings and her quirk whenever they were on the fritz. 

It was her escape and right now, she wanted nothing more than to curl her fingers around the neck of her violin and play.

Vanya’s pocket buzzed at the same time that two chimes from two other phones went off and just like that, the peaceful moment was shattered.

The siblings sat up and looked at each other before getting out of their chairs, Vanya, Allison, and Ben swung on their backpacks. The siblings began trading hugs, murmuring their goodbyes as they did. The girl hugged each sibling as tightly as she could, listening to their heartbeat and committing it to memory.

When they had all said their farewells, the siblings separated and stood in two groups, one that was staying and one that was leaving. Diego glanced at Luther and grinned slightly, “I guess we can move to a smaller table.”

Ben, Vanya, and Allison laughed but Luther just smiled at his brother’s attempt to lighten the mood, before glancing at Allison and opening his mouth.

But the curly-haired girl beat him to it, “Luther?” she called, smiling softly. The tallest brother looked taken aback, clearly not expecting her to say something first. The other siblings glanced at each other, equally parts uncomfortable and interested in what was happening in front of them.

“Yeah?” Luther breathed, looking at Allison as if she was the only one there. The curly-haired girl swallowed, “See you soon, okay?” she said tentatively.

Vanya’s blonde brother gulped and looked as if he wanted to say more but he kept quiet, simply nodding, “Yeah. See you.” he whispered. The siblings not involved in the grand display in front of them, looked at each other, all thinking the same thing. Allison and Luther had a weird relationship, although they had grown up together, they seemed to be closer than most. To be honest, it freaked everyone out a bit, everyone considered their adopted siblings to be their family but Allison and Luther treated each other like something more. To be honest, it was a bit icky. In any case, Vanya was relieved to not know whether Allison and Luther had been un-sibling-like, that seemed like a need to know sort of thing and Vanya definitely did  _ not  _ need to know.

Ben bumped Vanya’s shoulders and gestured to his phone, the time flashed 9:01. The girl sucked her teeth and nudged Allison’s shoulder, “Hey. We should go.” she told her sister softly.

The curly-haired girl shifted the bag on her shoulders and looked at the two brothers that were staying behind, “Guess it’s time,” she laughed slightly, eyes crinkling with her smile, “Bye, guys.”

Diego waved, a small smile on his face, “Later, guys.” he bid them goodbye, the bandage on his eyebrow crinkled with his expression. Luther mirrored his smile, waving as well, “Bye, numbers.”

Allison, Ben, and Vanya all waved back, sad smiles on the siblings’ faces. They looked at each other, Vanya pointed behind her, “I’m going this way, what about you guys?”

Ben pointed to the left and Allison pointed to the right. There was a beat of silence then they erupted into laughter. “Figures we’d be going in separate directions. Kind of symbolic if you think about it.” Ben joked.

Allison nodded in agreement, “A perfect ending for us, I think.” The corner of Vanya’s lip twitched upward, “Yeah, perfect ending.”

She looked at her siblings’ faces. Yeah, it really was a perfect ending.

Luther glanced at his phone and his eyes widened, “Shit! You guys gotta go!” holding the phone up to Ben, Vanya, Allison’s faces. The siblings’ eyes bugged out when they saw the time, “Fuck! Okay, love you guys, see you later!” Vanya spat out quickly, shifting her bag on her shoulders in preparation to run.

“Love you, numbers!” Allison shouted then turned and ran into the crowd.

“Bye, guys, see you later!” Ben yelled, as he briskly walked in the direction of his gate.

Vanya followed their example, waving at Diego and Luther before running off in the direction of her gate. She did not look back or listen for her siblings’ heartbeats as she ran away, no matter how much she wanted to.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!


End file.
